Junior featherweight titlist Jessie Magdaleno was not a happy camper as 2018 rang in.

He had been forced to withdraw from a mandatory title defense against Mexico's Cesar Juarez scheduled for Nov. 11 because of a left hand injury and had to sit by and watch as Juarez traveled to Accra, Ghana, to face Isaac Dogboe for the vacant interim belt made available while he recovered.

"I was frustrated not fighting. That's the part I disliked about the layoff," said Magdaleno, who has not fought since last April, when he knocked out Adeilson Dos Santos in the second round to easily retain his 122-pound title for the first time. "But I needed to give the hand a rest. So I wound up with a year layoff. It's been a long layoff and now I just feel great. Before, every time I threw a punch there was pain in my hand. But I am back at 100 percent.

"My body just needed the rest and the time, and now I am ready to put on a good show. I am ready for this fight."

The fight Magdaleno referred to is a mandatory defense against Dogboe, who knocked down Juarez twice and punished him in a fifth-round knockout victory to claim the interim belt on Jan. 6 before a wild hometown crowd.

Magdaleno and Dogboe will meet on Saturday night in the main event of the Top Rank on ESPN card at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia. The tripleheader will air live on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. ET, with the entire card streaming live on the ESPN App beginning at 4 p.m.

Magdaleno sounded almost disdainful of Dogboe's chances.

"I watched the fight he had with Juarez, and there was nothing that really impressed me or got me off my seat," Magdaleno said. "You could basically hit Juarez blindfolded if you wanted to, so I was not that impressed by [Dogboe's] performance. I knew the time was coming that I would face Dogboe, and now is that time."

Other than Juarez, Dogboe (18-0, 12 KOs), 23, who was a 2012 Olympian for Ghana, has not faced any recognizable opponents, but he displayed explosiveness and aggression in the January fight. But Magdaleno said he believes his skills are far superior to an opponent he labeled one-dimensional.


"He's the same as Juarez. He throws big looping shots, and he wants to wrestle you down," Magdaleno said. "He wants to just come forward and throw big looping shots. Other than that he has no defense, no head movement, no major skills. The way we've been working, we're more than ready and I know I have way more skills than he does."

Frank Espinoza, Magdaleno's manager, was a bit more respectful toward Dogboe than his fighter but still firm in his assessment that Magdaleno would be too much for him.

"I think Dogboe's a good fighter, so we're not overconfident," he said. "Dogboe does have some good amateur experience, but I think Jessie has too many skills, and on the night you'll see him display that. But I also think this is Jessie's toughest fight. Beating [Nonito] Donaire for the title [in November 2016] was a great win and a fight that elevated Jessie to where he is now, but Dogboe is a tough guy and a young guy."

Dogboe has been just as disdainful of Magdaleno as Magdaleno has been of him. They got into it at the final prefight news conference on Thursday.

Dogboe called Magdaleno "the worst world champion ever" and then questioned whether he would be able to make weight -- harking back to a time a few years ago when Magdaleno missed weight.

Dogboe said that Magdaleno blocked him on Facebook when the fight was announced.

"I guess I send shivers into people's spines," Dogboe said.

Magdaleno responded, "I can't beat him any uglier than he already is. He's dog ugly. Come Saturday, we're going to give him the name that he deserves -- the ugly Dogboe."

Dogboe did not respond kindly and got even more personal.

"When I knock you out cold, that's when I'm going to feel really sorry for your son, your little son, because he's going to be crying seeing his father [knocked out] cold," Dogboe said.

That was a bit too much for Magdaleno.

"Don't bring my son into this! I'll knock your ass out right now," he shouted. "I'll slap the s--- out of you."

Said Dogboe: "Save it for Saturday."


As if Magdaleno (25-0, 18 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw from Las Vegas, wasn't anxious enough to get back in the ring, Dogboe's trash talk has made him even more pumped to fight again.

"I hope he's ready because I came ready," Magdaleno said. "I don't want no excuses. He's going to get the ass whupping he deserves. I've been waiting to fight him. All that trash talk on social media, I hope he puts it up on Saturday night because I'm ready. I'm ready to give him what he deserves."

Magdaleno traveled with trainer Manny Robles and others who work with Robles, including featherweight world titleholder Oscar Valdez, to do the first month of training camp in Guadalajara, Mexico, just to switch things up before returning to finish at Robles' gym in Carson, California.

"We wanted to try something different by going to Mexico," Magdaleno said. "It was great. We had some fun but we worked hard. It was cool."

If all goes to plan for Magdaleno on Saturday, he wants to get a unification fight later this year before moving up to featherweight. Magdaleno and Espinoza would like to unify with Danny Roman (24-2-1, 9 KOs), 27, of Los Angeles, who is supposed to next face mandatory challenger Moises Flores in June.

Dogboe is aiming to put a serious wrench in those plans.

"I can sense fear in Jessie Magdaleno," he said. "He can say whatever he wants to say, but when he gets in the ring, he's really going to find out. I guess now he finally has balls to step up to the plate, accepting this fight. I hope come Saturday night he's prepared and doesn't complain about anything."

In the co-feature, former super middleweight world title challenger Jesse Hart (23-1, 19 KOs), 28, of Philadelphia, and Demond Nicholson (18-2-1, 17 KOs), 25, of Laurel, Maryland, meet in a 10-round fight. The opener, also slated for 10 rounds, is an all-Philadelphia heavyweight affair between former world title challenger Bryant Jennings (22-2, 13 KOs), 33, and the Freddie Roach-trained Joey Dawejko (19-4-4, 11 KOs), 27, who owns an amateur victory over Jennings