“They want nothing to do with Dennis” – Hogan ready to take risk because champ Munguia won’t

WBO light middleweight world champion Jamie Munguia should no longer be called ‘The Monster’ suggests Dennis Hogan’s promoter Paul Keegan.

The Australia-based Dubliner claims, unlike all monsters throughout history, the Mexican has shown genuine fear and is afraid to fight ‘The Hurricane’.

The massive-at-the-weight Munguia [31(26)-0] won the title on short notice back in April, destroying the man who ruined Miguel Cotto’s retirement party, Sadam Ali, and has since defended it twice against Liam Smith and Brandon Cook.

The Golden Boy-Zanfer fighter looks set for another voluntary defence this coming December and #1 contender, but not mandatory, once again won’t be the challenger.

Keegan reveals Team Hogan, who feel like they have been waiting for their shot for over a year now, have on more than one occasion told the WBO and Golden Boy that Hogan wants the fight.

Indeed, DDP are starting to believe the only reason the fight hasn’t been made is because the Mexican fears the Kildare fighter.

“Everyone you talk to says Munguia is the monster of the light middleweight division. If that is true then why for the second time in a row is he looking at fighters ranked three or four and not his number one contender?” Keegan asked Irish-Boxing.com rhetorically.

“The longer this goes on the more I’m certain they want nothing to do with Dennis,” he continued.

“It is way too risky for their next big thing. Some might think I’m just trying to get Dennis the fight but, hand on heart, Dennis Hogan beats Jaime Munguia. He is way too experienced.”

Giving a world title update, Keegan lamented that “nothing has progressed on the world title front.”

“Dennis sits number 1 and that won’t change until Munguia fights him. We have made it known numerous times to both Golden Boy and the WBO that Dennis is ready and waiting, they know our position.”

With Golden Boy not showing an interest and the Munguia fight not going to happen before the year is out, Hogan [27(7)-1(0)-1] has demanded a tough test and his promoters have obliged.

‘The Hurricane’ doesn’t want to bide his time and is willing to risk his #1 contender slot against Jamie Weetch [12(5)-2(0)].

The 33-year-old takes on the Welsh fighter, ranked #15 by the IBF, in Brisbane on December 15th after beating two WBO Top 15 fighters in his last two outings.

Perhaps a risky move, Keegan explained that “the reason for getting Dennis going again was he wants to fight and only wants World top 15 opponents.”

“We are not going to wait around and be inactive because if we get that call he has to be ready.  He didn’t have to fight in December but he is adamant he wants tough active fights.”

“This is a huge risk for Dennis he loses then where do we go then?”

“Jamie wins and his whole life changes. We could have looked for an easier opponent but people aren’t stupid if Dennis says he will be the world champion then he has to beat world ranked fighters like Jamie.”

While Keegan might be nervous in terms of Hogan’s world title hopes, when he puts his promoter’s hat on he is excited about what he believes is a perfect fight to top DDP’s best show to date.

“Jamie Weetch for Dennis is a great fight. Two immigrants, one from Ireland and one from Wales, move to Australia for an opportunity. Now one is ranked 15 in the world and one is number 1 in the world. They are fighting for their family, friends and countries.”

While Keegan and co are heavily invested in Hogan, who is a friend first and foremost, the promoter who works alongside Danny Dimas are beginning to branch out and starting to makes waves Down Under away from ‘The Hurricane’.

Keegan believes their next show is their best to date and is a sign of things to come.

“We have put together our best show yet. It’s live on TV in Australia it’s live around the world on Epicentre TV and we are looking at an option to get it live in Ireland and the UK considering Dennis and Jamie are headlining.”

“Rohan Murdock who is now number six in the world super middleweight that we signed to a long-term deal is on a stacked undercard. We have three WBO titles and one IBF title up for grabs.”

“All I can say is we are trying everyday to be better than yesterday. We have a vision to make DDP massive and global. We recently added Steve Wijangco as our head of boxing operations, Steve has tons of experience as both a former fighter and a promoter in Australia for years.”

“We have a great team now great fighters but it will take me five years to get it to where I believe we can.”

Keegan had explored the idea of a diaspora show and was keen to do an Irish Exiles fight night in Ireland. However, the signing of Aussie-based fighers TJ Doheny, Danny Keating, Gearoid Clancy, and Darragh Foley to MTK may have put paid to that.

However, DDP still have Irish ambitions.

“I still have a passion to bring our style of shows to the Republic but obviously that not easy. We are only 18 months old and our third show was watched by 400,000 globally so we are on the right track,” said Keegan, refusing to rule out the idea.

Kildare Boxing is proudly supported by Liffey Crane Hire.