Updated at 10.11
KILDARE BOXER DENNIS Hogan was left disappointed on Saturday night, losing a WBO World light-middleweight title fight in Monterrey against Jaime Munguia.
The 22-year-old Mexican boxer was deemed the victor, with the judges awarding scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 114-114, and Munguia prevailing on a majority decision.
But Munguia may consider himself fortunate, with many independent observers feeling Hogan was hard done by. Mounting the fourth defence of his strap, Munguia (33-0) struggled to assert himself against Hogan’s nimble footwork during the opening five rounds, before finally bringing his trademark body blows to bear against the 34-year-old Irishman.
Undeterred, Hogan held his own and returned fire, even threatening to knock Munguia down with an overhand right in the 11th, while the incumbent had the better of the final round without scoring a decisive blow.
“I knew I won the fight,” Hogan said afterwards. “I knew in my heart and soul. I’m so disappointed to train as hard as I did and for this to happen.
“We came here in good faith and it’s no disrespect to anybody here, but apart from the people who scored it and allowed this decision to go through, everybody knows.
“This is bad for boxing, bad for me.”
Munguia, meanwhile, claimed he had rightfully been awarded victory, while offering Hogan a rematch.
“Honestly, once the fight ended I thought it was going to end in a draw,” he added. “I decided to come out in that last round and give it all to get the victory. But it was difficult.”
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Fantastic news for irish squad development.
@brian o’leary: Indeed, hopefully in the Irish system we can unearth another D’Arcy-O’driscoll combination. Barrett is a quality operator and a bit like Brad Thorn when he came the knowledge he imparted on others was excellent.
@brian o’leary: yes it is. During the 6 nations when 16 to 20 leinster players are in the sqaud the younger players will have someone of his calibre for them to learn from.
@Caballo Blanco: you have no idea what Thorn did other than put Toner on the bench. What we do know is Leinster poached McCarthy from Connacht and the knowledge imparted on Beirne, Moloney and Roux got 2 released and one became a backup player.
@chris mcdonnell: I guess one will be trying to learn from the stands instead of the pitch? Are the leinster coach’s in the ireland squad for the 6 nations,?
@brian o’leary: when ringrose, henshaw, keenan, Gibsonpark, lowe, frawley, obrien, and maybe larmour and pendergast are away with Ireland, Barrett will be there with the younger players who are left. If they don’t learn from a world class player either in training or on the pitch along side we’ll that’s their loss. Not really sure what you mean about the leinster coaches but hey
@chris mcdonnell: I get that, it’s just that I see game time as the ultimate training/development tool and some of our guys will now be robbed of that experience. I’m more concerned about the high end games where there is more to be learned than the urc during the six nations.
The coaching point was that we should have would class coaches to do the coaching, if not, then maybe spend the budget there?
@brian o’leary: I have a feeling he’ll be thrown in at outhalf for the big European games – Leo doesn’t want to mess around this year
@brian o’leary: Why??
That’s a relief; I was worried about Leinster’s lack of strength-in-depth to cover the position.
@John Coffey: Yep we need top cover for our Centres during the International windows. Help the young lads on no end.
Does anyone know why we’re playing NZ on a Friday night in November? What happened to having all the Autumn Internationals kicking off at 5.30 on a Saturday?