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Promoters behind Dennis Hogan’s success are coming to Dublin

Relatively new-to-the-game Australian based promotional company DDP Sports will run boxing shows in Dublin as of next year.

The company that guided Dennis Hogan to a world title shot have set up an Irish base and plan to run quarterly shows in Ireland in 2020.

DDP, who comprise of Dubliner Paul Keegan, Danny Dimas and recent world title challenger Hogan, only ran their first show in late 2017, but have quickly established themselves as one of the strongest outfits in Australia and Brisbane in particular.

Their leading light is Kildare native Hogan, but they also boast rising star Rohan Murdock and a potential future Katie Taylor foe DeeDee Hobbs among those on their books.

Now they are expanding to Ireland and have targeted four 2020 shows.

The Dublin market has proven difficult to crack as of late. Red Corner, SK Promotions, Assassin Promotions and FS Promotions have all come and gone in the last four years.

Indeed, but for Boxing Ireland, shows would be sparse in the nation’s capital – and both Leonard Gunning and Steven Sharpe have be open about the difficulties cost wise of running shows outside of the North.

However, DDP are confident they have a structure than can work. The Australian based company work off a corporate template and work off an event premise so a fight night can be consumed by both hardcore boxing fan and casuals alike.

“We are really excited about coming to Ireland and doing our own unique thing here,” Keegan told Irish-boxing.com.

“Firstly I want to say we are open to working with all promoters, managers and fighters. We are open to having mutually beneficial relationships with those that work in the sport here. The aim would be to have four shows a year and we are looking at February 2020 as a good time to start. We may have to build a strong stable of fighters and having Dennis involved will be great for that, but as I said we are willing to work with all the promoters out there.”

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When pushed on the hardships of working within Dublin, Keegan’s optimism couldn’t be swayed.

“We are confident in the set up we have. Just look at our shows in Australia we created events that people loved. Honestly it was common place for people to be asking about buying tickets for our next show within minutes of the final bell being rang on the show they just watched. We have a corporate element to our shows mixed with the normal fan element and that can work here.”

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Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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