Isaac Dogboe will stick with the WBO route in pursuit of his second divisional title.

BoxingScene.com has confirmed that a deal was reached for Dogboe to next face two-time Olympic Gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez in a WBO-sanctioned featherweight bout. The exact stakes are to be determined for their finalized showdown, which will air on an ESPN platform on April 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

ESPN.com boxing insider Mike Coppinger first reported news of the intriguing featherweight clash.

The deal comes just days after Ghana’s Dogboe (24-2, 15KOs) was instructed to enter talks with the Philippines’ Mark Magsayo (24-1, 16KOs) for an ordered WBC title eliminator. The effort by the WBC was well intended but the fight was always a non-starter.

Dogboe-Ramirez was always in the works, though stuck in a slight holding pattern. For now, an interim title is likely to be made available if necessary for their fight. However, there also exists the possibility that the full WBO featherweight title be at stake, depending on the outcome of the Emanuel Navarrete-Liam Wilson vacant WBO junior lightweight title fight on February 3.

Navarrete (36-1, 30KOs) still holds the WBO featherweight title. A win on February 3 would leave the 27-year-old from San Juan Zitlaltepec, Mexico with ten days to decide whether to remain at 130 or return to featherweight, in accordance with WBO Regulation 5(d) which states that “no WBO Champion may hold WBO titles in more than one Weight Division. If a WBO Champion wins a WBO Championship in a higher or lower division, the WBO Champion shall have Ten (10) Days to determine which Weight Division.”

Dogboe—a former WBO junior featherweight titlist—advanced to the top of the sanctioning body’s featherweight rankings following a ten-round win over former title challenger Joet Gonzalez last July 23 in Hinckley, Minnesota. The win was the fourth in a row for the 28-year-old Ghanaian boxer since back-to-back-losses to Navarrete, the first of which ended his brief 122-pound title reign.

Ramirez (11-1, 7KOs) established himself as a featherweight threat in a terrific 2022 campaign.

The two-time Olympic Gold medalist for Cuba—who now lives in Gulfport, Florida—scored three knockouts on the year, including a fifth-round stoppage of unbeaten Abraham Nova last June 18 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City. The win came four months after Ramirez knocked out Eric “Not Jake” Donovan in the third round on the February 26 Josh Taylor-Jack Catterall undercard in Glasgow, Scotland.

In his most recent start, Ramirez stopped Jose Matias Romero in the ninth round on the October 29 Vasiliy Lomachenko-Jamaine Ortiz undercard at Hulu Theater. The 29-year-old Cuban southpaw has won eleven in a row since suffering a stunning defeat in his pro debut versus Adan Gonzalez, which he avenged just eleven months later.

The worst-case scenario for Dogboe-Ramirez would be for the winner to face Navarrete, should the two-division titlist opt to return to featherweight following his 130-pound title clash with Wilson. That decision will come no later than February 13, which means the April 1 main event will have its exact stakes established well in advance.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox