Fight in the Old Dogs -Brennan takes inspiration from Hogan and Donovan

Emmett Brennan has taken huge encouragement from the success of fellow thirty-somethings Eric Donovan and Dennis Hogan as he eyes up a pro move.

The Olympian has revealed a plan to turn over and fight out New York in early 2023.

The popular Dub will enter the paid ranks at 31, an age many would have previously argued is more suited to retirement.

The Dublin Docklands fighter, who has said he’ll enter the Elite Championships in January, disagrees and is confident he can have a serious impact on the pro scene at super middleweight – and points to Dennis Hogan and Eric Donovan as life in the old dog examples.

Brennan relating to Donovan, 36, in particular, shouldn’t be a surprise, as the Kildare man is also a former Irish international amateur who turned over at 31 and it makes sense he finds himself inspired by the St Michael Athy graduate’s BUI Celtic, Irish and European title-winning innings.

Hogan turned over in Australia a lot earlier but registered some big wins in his 30’s and persevered to eventually win the IBO light middleweight world title.

Brennan has followed their success and paid attention to what they did to achieve it.

“You look at Eric Donovan and Dennis Hogan, 37, 38, one has become a European Champion and the other a World Champion,” he told Irish-boxing.com.

“They live a very good lifestyle, something I’m trying to copy. They’ve done the business, they’ve had their struggles in the past and that’s no secret but they’ve shown through changing your lifestyle, being committed to the sport, and the process that you can go on and be successful.”

Brennan admits ditching the vest that bit earlier may have been ideal but he was never going to let age prevent him from following a pro dream.

“I couldn’t leave it at that last fight in Tokyo and I knew I was going to go pro just stylistically amateur wasn’t suited to me. I’ve a professional style, I’ve always had, I’m 31 now so if you go for Paris the chances of going professional just aren’t there. Ideally, I’d want to be 28, 29 going pro but this is the position I’m in.”