The Fourth Time is a Charm for Pertinacious Dennis Hogan and More

Three-time world title challenger Dennis Hogan, 37, finally achieved his dream of winning a world title belt and it mattered not to him that the belt bore the stamp of the fringe International Boxing Organization. A native of Kildare, Ireland, who settled in Brisbane in his mid-20’s, Hogan (31-4-1, 7 KOs) wrested the 154-pound diadem from England’s Sam Eggington (32-8), winning a majority decision on Saturday (Friday in the U.S.) at the Newcastle Events Centre in Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Although Eggington, 28, had youth on his side, it was Hogan (pictured on the right; Eggington on the left) who had more steam in his boiler in the last few rounds. Two of the judges favored him by 116-112 scores with the other scoring it 114-114. There were no knockdowns, but Eggington suffered a cut on his forehead in round three as a result of an accidental head butt.

Hogan insisted he would have retired if he had lost. Instead, there’s now talk of a fight between him and Spike O’Sullivan which would be held at Dublin’s Croke Park on a card that would feature Katie Taylor.

In another bout of note, Sydney junior middleweight Nikita Tszyu advanced to 4-0 (3 KOs) with a dominant performance over Newcastle’s Darkon Dryden who was pulled out by his corner after three frames. Dryden had won all four of his previous bouts by knockout.

Nikita Tszyu is the son of Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu and the younger brother of Tim Tszyu who challenges undisputed middleweight champion Jermell Charlo on Jan. 28 at a site to be determined. A carpenter by trade, Darkon Dryden is a third-generation prizefighter.

Also, Sam Goodman (13-0, 7 KOs) remained undefeated and captured a regional super bantamweight title with a 10-round unanimous decision over fellow Aussie Jason Cooper (17-4-1).

Hogan vs. Eggington was the main event of Newcastle’s Super Saturday Boxing Festival, a 10-hour marathon with 20 bouts scheduled, seven involving novice or near-novice women.

Results from Plant City, Florida

In an upset, Brandon Benitez, an unheralded fighter from Queretaro, Mexico, scored a 10-round split decision over former WBA world featherweight title-holder Can Xu. Two of the judges favored Benitez by 96-94 scores, overruling the dissenter who had it 97-93 for the fighter from Beijing.

It was the second straight loss for Can (18-4, 3 KOs) who won the WBA diadem in 2019 with an upset of Jesus Rojas and lost the title in his third defense when he was stopped in the 12^th round by Leigh Wood. Benitez improved to 19-2 (7).

Other Bouts

In a junior welterweight match slated for 10, Cesar Francis, a 32-year-old Brooklynite by way of Panama, flattened Mexico’s Francisco Armenta with a scorching right uppercut at the 29-second mark of round two.

Francis, a late bloomer, improved to 12-0 (7 KOs). in his previous fight he won a 10-round unanimous decision over grizzled Raymundo Beltran, the former WBO lightweight champion. Armenta brought a 12-1 record but had defeated only four opponents with winning records.

In an 8-round middleweight contest, part-time prizefighter Kanat Islam (he missed all of 2018 and 2020) rebounded from his first pro loss with a unanimous decision over Argentine veteran Javier Maciel who, akin to Islam, is 38 years old.

An ethnic Kazakh, born in China, and a 2008 Olympian, Islam (29-1, 22 KOs) was briefly part of the Egis Klimas stable (think Vasyl Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk). He pitched a shutout over Maciel (34-18), punctuating his win with a knockdown in the final 30 seconds of the fight.

In a middleweight contest slated for six rounds, Darrelle Valsaint, a native Floridian who represented Haiti in the Tokyo Olympics, scored his most impressive win to date with a second-round stoppage of California’s Paul Mendez (21-4-2) who was on the deck twice before the referee called a halt at the 2:28 mark of round two.

Valsaint, 20, improved to 6-0 (5 KOs). Mendez, a former sparring partner of Andre Ward and Gennadiy Golovkin, had lost only one of his previous 16 fights but was making his first start in 40 months.

The Friday night card was streamed on ProBox TV which offers a monthly subscription at $1.99.

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