Subdued Sam dethroned by dominant Dennis
Sam Eggington (32-8, 18KO) did not look like his usual self in his maiden world title defence against Irishman Dennis Hogan (31-4-1, 7KO) in Australia.
It was fourth time lucky for 'Hurricane' Hogan as he beat Eggington via majority decision (114-114, 116-112 x2) to win the IBO super welterweight world title at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre.
Eggington, renowned for his exciting, all-action style, simply couldn’t find a rhythm against the awkward Irishman based in Queensland across the 12 rounds of action.
Hogan was first to the punch and far busier than the Briton in the opening two rounds. Eggington upped his workrate in round three but he was constantly peppered with the Irishman's left jab all fight long.
The champion managed to land a few good right hands, but Hogan's big rights landed far more frequently.
The Brummie did manage to even things up by the end of the seventh round, where the punch stats showed he had landed one single shot more than the challenger – 123 to Hogan's 122.
Hogan landed a big right hand straight down the pipe of Eggington in the ninth round that drew a reaction from the champ. Eggington landed an eyecatching long right hand in the 11th round but his single shots were outnumbered by Hogan's, who unloaded in twos and threes, so that the punch stats going into the final round were 227 total shots landed to Eggington's 196.
Hogan had clearly pulled away from Eggington down the stretch, and immediately struck Eggington with another big right hand in the first seconds of the final round.
Eggington's usual aggression was noticeably absent in what was a disastrious defence of his world title. However, Sam's lack of success mostly comes down to 'Hurricane' Hogan's clever tactics and style of fighting.
The broadcasters of the event questioned Sam's strange tactics, “I can’t believe his opponent (Eggington) never watched him,” Fenech said on the Main Event broadcast.
“Because when you’re fighting someone like him (Hogan), you need to watch him. You need to know what you’re up against. Bad move by them.”
Michael added: “That’s hard to believe. What, are you that disinterested you don’t want to see who you’re getting in against? It’s crazy.”
In his fourth world title fight, the elated 37-year-old said, “I like to break it up a bit and have people guessing, and I think I did that for the most part.
“Sam just wanted to get in but he didn’t have the movement that I have, I found that from the start.
“But as much as I wanted to go first and they were good instructions, I really had to marry that in. Wade Ryan was quite similar where they want you to come in and they even let you get a few in, but when they get you on the inside, they’ll get you.
“I had to be very careful of that. I had to just keep breaking it and keep getting little wins here and there, wherever I could get them. Even on the inside I was getting some good wins.”
It’s now opened up even more doors for the Irishman as revealed his next steps amid his Indian summer.
“Look, it will either close a chapter or open up a new one,” Hogan said.
“Have a defence back in Ireland, we’ll chat about a defence against someone from Ireland.
“Then after that, you’re either all in or you’re nothing and after that you just go after more belts.
“Keep going till I lose, really.”
