Dennis Hogan’s Brisbane Homecoming is No Feel-Good Story for Christmas

Published

3 years ago

December 10, 2020

Dennis Hogan’s Brisbane Homecoming is No Feel-Good Story for Christmas

Dennis Hogan will get back to his home in the Australian city of Brisbane just in the nick of time to spend the Christmas holidays with his wife and baby daughters. This reads like a nice opening line to a heartwarming Christmas story, but it’s not. File it under Heartbreak.

Don’t misunderstand. Hogan loves his wife, the former Brideen White, and his daughters, aged three and 10 months, but it wasn’t supposed to be this way. He didn’t plan on returning home without first capturing the figurative scalp of former WBA/IBF 154-pound world champion Julian “J Rock” Williams. But the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry and that goes triple for boxing, even in a normal year.

Ten years ago, at age 25, Hogan left his home in Kilcullen, Ireland, a town in greater Dublin, for a new beginning in the Land Down Under. In Ireland he had worked as a carpenter. Work became scarce after the recession hit, but Hogan wasn’t pushed to Australia so much as he was pulled there. As an amateur, he had boxed in a tournament in Brisbane, impressing someone with connections who told him, “look me up if you ever decide to turn pro.”

In Ireland, many boys grow up with the dream of becoming a world boxing champion. That yearning was especially intense in Hogan who was introduced to the sport by his maternal grandfather, Paddy Burke, the local boxing coach in Kilcullen.

In Hogan’s words, his grandfather was “over the moon” when Dennis won his first pro fight. But Paddy did not live to see his grandson’s pro career evolve beyond the preliminary stage. His final words to Dennis before he passed away were “Give it everything you got.” Last year, Dennis got a tattoo with these words inscribed below an image of his late grandfather. It was inked below his heart.

Hogan was off the radar of most boxing fans in most of the world until April of last year when he challenged WBO 154-pound champion Jaime Munguia in Monterrey, Mexico. Dennis came out on the short end of a majority decision, but the overwhelming consensus in the Anglo community was that he was robbed. Had the judges seen the same fight as those tuning in on TV, it would have been a massive upset. The Mexican came in undefeated (32-0) and was a big puncher.

Hogan’s consolation prize was a date with another undefeated fighter, WBC world middleweight champion Jermall Charlo. They met at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn on Dec. 7, 2019, and that didn’t go well for the Irish Aussie. Dennis was on the deck twice before the bout was waived off in the seventh round. It was the first stoppage of Hogan’s career and reduced his record to 28-3-1.

Dennis concedes that he made a big mistake by moving up in weight to take on an opponent as formidable as Charlo. He resolved that henceforth he would stay at 154. When he received an offer to fight “J-Rock,” he pounced on it. The bout would happen on the day after Christmas at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The winner was promised another title shot.

On Oct. 22, Hogan arrived in Las Vegas to begin a 9-week camp with new trainer Wayne McCullough. A longtime Las Vegas resident, Belfast native McCullough is a two-time Olympian who turned pro after winning silver at the 1992 Barcelona Games and would go on to win a world bantamweight title. He was tutored from the very onset of his pro career by the legendary trainer Eddie Futch and he and Hogan would hit it off splendidly.

Nine weeks is a long time for a fellow with young ones at home to be away from his family. One might think that spending it in a party town like Las Vegas would mitigate the sacrifice, but don’t be fooled. The allurements of the Strip held no appeal to Hogan. “I have been 100 percent focused on becoming the best boxer that I can be,” he told this reporter.

Hogan had an inkling that things might go awry when he learned that Julian Williams’ chief sparring partner (who shall remain nameless in deference to health privacy laws) had tested positive for the coronavirus. As it turned out, that was a precursor of more bad news. Julian Williams was forced to pull out.

Dennis was given the option of taking on James Kirkland who was slated to appear on the card in a supporting bout. On paper, Kirkland, the trouble-plagued, 36-year-old Texas southpaw, was a far lesser threat than “J-Rock.” Kirkland had fought only twice against no-name opponents since being thrashed by Canelo Alvarez in 2015. But a match with the heavy-handed Kirkland would have necessitated a return to 160 pounds and Hogan said thanks, but no thanks.

The entire card has evaporated, but in these fluid times one shouldn’t be shocked if it gets patched back together with a new main event.

It was a bummer of a year for Hogan before this latest development. He is great friends with Jeff Horn with whom he has sparred many rounds. Sitting in the stadium and watching Horn take a beating from Tim Tszyu in their big domestic clash this past August was tough to take. Horn has been up and down since he beat Pacquaio, notes Hogan: “After the first round I knew that Jeff was going to have an off night.”

Hogan’s name was immediately bandied about as a future opponent for Tszyu. He says he was offered the fight but had to turn it down because he is under contract with Premier Boxing Champions who, he says, has been very fair in their dealings with him. He won’t denigrate Tszyu, but one gets the impression that he isn’t all that impressed with the son of the Hall of Famer. “A fight with Tszyu is a fight I would embrace,” he says with relish. (Tim Tszyu is back in action this coming Wednesday opposing New Zealand’s Bowyn Morgan.)

The Moloney twins, Jason and Andrew, have a big following in Australia, and Hogan is a fan. When Andrew’s rematch with Joshua Franco was ruled a no-contest because of a phantom head butt, there was a big stink. “It was the most disgusting thing I ever saw in boxing,” says Dennis. “For the two rounds that it lasted, Andrew fought the perfect fight.”

Hogan anticipates that he will stay in the boxing game, likely in a promotional capacity, when his career is finished. He can tap into the big Irish community in Brisbane that inflates the gate whenever he is on the bill.

“As much as it’s a heartache, boxing in my blood,” he told this reporter in a conversation that took place before he knew that his fight with Julian Williams was in the jeopardy. At age 35, Dennis has a short window to realize his dream of becoming a world champion. For boxers of his vintage, a postponed fight, at least in theory, is more disadvantageous.

When Hogan left Brisbane to complete his preparations in Los Angeles for his date with Jaime Munguia, he got a big send-off. The Queensland Irish pipe band walked him into the airport. The previous month, he and Brideen – who is also a recent emigrant from the Emerald Isle – and their little girl Aria (whose sister wasn’t born yet) were given their own float in Brisbane’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

As I write these words, Dennis Hogan is homeward bound. His plane hasn’t yet touched down in Australia and when it does, he won’t be in Brisbane, but in Sydney, where he must quarantine for 14 days before completing his journey. Hopefully there will be some presents under a tree when he finally makes it home after a long expedition that yielded nothing but another disappointment.

Merry Christmas, Dennis, and if your retort is “bah, humbug,” well, we can certainly understand your frustration.

Photo credit: Getty

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Arne K. Lang

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

6 hours ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

2 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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Haney and Garcia: Bipolar Opposites

Published

2 days ago

April 20, 2024

TSS Press

Haney and Garcia: Bipolar Opposites

One young man flew halfway around the world to take on a world champion in his own living room; not once, but twice. The other young man quit prior to one fight, and then again during another one.

The first guy mentioned is an obedient son of an ultra-streetwise father. The type of parent where, if he doesn’t know the answer (and more times than not he most likely does), he will know where to find it. The second guy doesn’t appear to have that quality guidance scenario going on for him, which is probably for the best, because he believes he has all the answers.

The first guy is on record as saying he wants to go down in boxing history as an all-time great. The other guy? He decided not to continue in a fight while he was still sporting an undefeated record. You may think to yourself if there was ever a time to soldier through, right?

Then yesterday, that same guy missed making weight by 3.2 pounds, and seemed to be more than fine with it, to the point where he actually appeared to be quite pleased with himself.

If you haven’t heard, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia are going to share a boxing ring in a twelve round go for God knows what will be at stake by the time they actually punch off. The fact that no one from Garcia’s team has stepped in and rescued him from these unfolding events, his own personal well-being, and/or not to mention Devin Haney is, well, troubling in and of itself.

Back in the amateur days, the record shows they split six fights. They were boys back then, so it means zero. If anything, you’d want to be the older of the two, and Ryan had over a three-month age advantage. If you’ve only been on the planet for a total of 120 months or so, every extra month could be a big enough difference in strength and development. Now as world class professionals in their prime? That’s different. Younger is always better. Devin is that guy.

Haney and Garcia fought six times for free but will fight only once as professionals. Then one of them will continue with their march for historic greatness, while the other will head back to Kamp Krazy, where he’s the current Mayor.

It’s never smart to lay 8-1, 9-1 in boxing. And if you see taking Garcia as a value bet with +500 to +600 and beyond, you don’t understand value and you evidently don’t like money.

There is, however, a wagering opportunity here.

Total Rounds: Fight doesn’t go 10.5 rounds.

Take anything over +125. It’s worth a unit on a scale of 5. Logically, there are a lot of ways to cash this ticket: legitimate victory, meltdown, catching lightning in a bottle, etc. Or simply the exiting stage left of a guy who may be already plotting his next career move.

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