Dennis Hogan to Fight Sam Eggington for IBO World Title in Australia

Dennis Hogan [30(7)-4(2)-1] will challenge for the IBO world light middleweight title in Australia in October according to new manager Steve Scanlan.

According to Scanlan, Sam Eggington [32(18)-7(2)], who won the title by defeating Przemyslaw Zysk in June, has agreed to travel Down Under and a title fight should be confirmed for Brisbane and October before next week’s purse bids are called.

“Dennis deserves this shot for everything he has been through,” Scanlan when speaking to the Australian.

“He has had three world-title shots and he was robbed in Mexico, but this would be his first world-title fight on Australian soil.

“The IBO ordered us to negotiate and we have another week to finalise a deal with Sam Eggington before it goes to purse bid.

“Negotiations are going well, they are happy to come here, so we expect to have a deal done this week which is great news for Dennis and Australian fight fans.”

The Hennessy Sports stable mate of Aaron McKenna, Stevie McKenna and Brett McGinty inherited Hogan as a mandatory challenger when he claimed the title, so even if talks fall through the fight has to take place.

‘The Hurricane’ earned a shot at the title by outclassing the gutsy Wade Ryan on the undercard of Nikita Tszyu’s debut win at the Fortitude Valley Music Hall in Brisbane in March.

That victory assured the two-weight world title challenger’s next fight will be for the IBO 154lbs belt, and he had hoped to challenge for it early this summer.

However, speaking recently he revealed his shot had been delayed. The 37-year-old thought he was awaiting the winner of another final eliminator, but it turns out he’d been waiting for the title to find a home. It’s now placed around the waist of the Brit and he has to defend against the Kildare fighter.

Scanlan is confident the former DDP Sports fighter the title will find a new home for the strap very soon.

“Eggington is very beatable,” he adds. “Sam has more power than Dennis, but Dennis has the experience to outbox him the longer the fight goes.

“What happened to Dennis in Mexico (losing to Munguia) was devastating, but in his backyard of Brisbane, he can finally get that world title.

“This is his last chance.”

Although. as an organization, the IBO does a lot of things right, it isn’t held in the same regard as the big four [WBO, IBF, WBA, WBC] by most. However, if there is any fighter that deserves that fact being overlooked somewhat it’s Hogan, whose performance against Jaime Munguia in Mexico should have been enough to see him join the list of Irish world champions.