Irish ex-pat Dennis ‘Hurricane’ Hogan 31-4-1 (7) won the biggest fight of his career when he dethroned Sam ‘The Savage’ Eggington 32-8 (18) to claim the IBO junior middleweight title by majority decision at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, Australia on Saturday night.
The 28-year-old Eggington threw the harder punches but Hogan’s blows were sharper and he was the busier of the two. Hogan, 37, finished the show strongly, repeatedly snapping the Englishman’s head back with accurate shots.
Judges David Craig and Guy Girard both gave the fight to Hogan by the score of 116-112. Judge Alan Davis could split them at 114-114.
“I’m an Aussie and I’m Irish, man,” Hogan said. “My daughters are Aussie. I absolutely love Australia. It’s given me this opportunity. It’s paved the way for me.
“I was only meant to be for a year, fell in love with the place, loved the people, the people accepted me and it’s made be a better person and given me the tools for a good life. So Aussie all the way.”
The victory was made even sweeter for Hogan after his controversial majority decision loss to then-WBO 154-pound champion Jaime Munguia in Mexico three years ago.
“I truly felt like I did win a world championship fight before but I didn’t have a strap to go with it,” he said.
“When I heard 114-114 I thought, ‘Oh Jesus here we go again’ but I still had the belief that I got it.
“The boys in the corner were saying I needed the last two rounds and I fucking gave it everything I got.
“I’m sitting here now with the belt and I’m over the moon. I can’t explain it.
“It’s like destiny. It was like it had to be. It’s weird. I just felt like at that point it had to be. I knew in my heart I’d won it.
“It’s funny because no one jumped around like I did win it so it was like, ‘Fuck, hold on a second’.”
Not all the drama took place in the ring. Before the fight boxing officals allowed Eggington to wear Hogan’s second pair of gloves. Eggington wanted Hogan’s green glove to match his shorts.
“To be honest this is bullshit,” Hogan’s furious trainer Stephen Edwards told Main Event. “We had a whole process in front of the commission, the supervisors, the referee of selecting the gloves for this fight.
“This is why you do it the day before so you’re not doing this sort of stuff on the night of the fight and have the public going, ‘Why the hell wasn’t this sorted out the day before?’
“We’ll get to the bottom of this but it’s highly unusual and you’d at least like to be consulted before a decision’s made behind your back.”
