Boxing Challenge: Pedraza dethrones Beltran, Dogboe crushes another

ESPN presented a strong two fight (I listened to a podcast during the ladies fight) card from Glendale, Arizona that saw a star continue to develop and a new champion crowned to challenge Vasyl Lomachenko in December.

In the main event, Jose Pedraza upset Ray Beltran via unanimous decision in a close tussle to lift the WBO lightweight title from Beltran.
I had Pedraza a narrow 114-113 winner (6-6 in rounds) and the scores were wider than I thought was reasonable.
Going into the fight, the veteran Beltran figured to be the stronger fighter later in the bout and going to the eleventh round, that scenario seemed to be rolling into play.
Pedraza had won the first three rounds, but the charge of Beltran began in the fourth and Beltran would win all but one round from the 4th through the 10th.
However, it was the younger Pedraza that grabbed the final two rounds with not only a knockdown in the eleventh but a rally late in the twelfth that seemed to have Beltran buzzed a bit and backed in a corner as the bell rang to end the encounter.
The victory was more than just a title for Pedraza, who was released from PBC after his loss to Gervonta Davis, it meant a possible seven-figure payday in December for a unification match with WBA kingpin Vasyl Lomachenko.
I'm not sure Pedraza will offer a stern test to Lomachenko, but his rangier boxing style may cause Lomachenko a few more problems than the pressuring Beltran would have caused him.

Issac Dogboe continued his rise as a must see boxer with a one round blitz of Hidenori Otake.
Now, Otake was 37, had lost his only fight against a top fighter (Scott Quigg), had lost the only time that he fought outside of Japan (Again to Quigg) and looked overmatched, but when you have an opponent that isn't in your class, the best way to get something out of such fights is to get rid of them quickly.
Two knockdowns and an uppercut that turned Otake's legs to those similar to Ralph Dibny ended this one in just one round.
Moving on from Otake and the sooner the better there, I'd love to see Dogboe in the unification fights that he called for against WBA champ Daniel Roman and WBC champ Rey Vargas, but both fights will be tough to make with opposing promoters and networks (Roman is with Eddie Hearn's DAZN and Vargas with Golden Boy and HBO).
Both of those fights would be interesting with a Roman fight having the potential to be a strong action bout and the taller Vargas would be interesting to see how Dogboe deals with a talented boxer that uses distance well.

In the Boxing Challenge, I added two points for Dogboe's KO and Ramon Malpica gained one for Dogboe's victory.
Both of us selected Ray Beltran over Jose Pedraza.
The challenge now stands at 127-101.