It was a rather formal affair as Robeisy Ramirez and Isaac Dogboe both came in under the featherweight limit of 126 lbs., on Friday afternoon in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ahead of their world title fight for the vacant WBO featherweight world title, tomorrow, broadcast globally on ESPN+. Ramirez came in at 125.6 lbs, whereas Dogboe weighed 124.6 lbs.
As we had no drama at the scales, but a ton of supporters for Dogboe, who seemingly had two-to-three times the fans who made the trip to Oklahoma for him. It seems that despite it not being a major fight city, this event could have a very good fight atmosphere come Saturday night.
The co-feature saw Joet Gonzalez and Jose Enrique Vivas weigh the exact same at 126.2 lbs, ahead of their scheduled featherweight crossroads bout. Both fighters have made substantial charges up the featherweight rankings but now find themselves in a similar spot. Vivas is vying to earn a world title shot in the future, and Gonzalez is looking to fend off Vivas and avoided the dreaded label of a high-level gatekeeper for emerging young fighters.
“I’m always in the gym working really hard,” said Gonzalez. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the win that night against Isaac Dogboe. The judges believed that Isaac won it. Now he’s in his position, and I’m in my position.”
The undercard saw the most interesting weight difference as junior middleweight Jahi Tucker fighting for the first time at the weight class came in well under the weight limit at 151.8 lbs., whereas his opponent Nikoloz Sekhniashvili 154.2 lbs. The bout has an interesting story as Tucker is targeting Sekhniashvili due to his relationship as a sparring partner for Xander Zayas, a fighter Tucker wants to fight. The rest of the weight from the undercard is as follows, 2020 U.S. Olympian Delante “Tiger” Johnson weighed in at 142.8 lbs, whereas his opponent Alfonso Olvera was 142.8 lbs. Local favorite, and 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials silver medalist, Jeremiah Milton officially weighed in at 255.8 lbs, whereas his opponent Fabio Maldonado came in at 215.8 lbs. Lightweight Emiliano Vargas weighed 133 lbs, whereas his opponent Edgar Uvalle hit the scales at 132.2 lbs, light heavyweight Dante Benjamin came in at 175 lbs., as he will face Richmond, California’s own Jasper McCargo who weighed 177.4 lbs. Abdullah Mason weighed 135.2 lbs, and his opponent Erick Garcia Benitez 135.4 lbs and opening the card, Rohan Polanco came in well under the welterweight limit at 142.4 lbs, with his opponent Ricardo Quiroz weighing 146.6 lbs.
“I’ve been in this game for about three years now. I’m seasoned. I’m taking my steps to be the best fighter in the world,” said Jahi Tucker. “Slowly but surely, we are going to keep climbing. Niko, you got to be on the journey. You got to take this ‘L’ from me.”
