Like so many others, Dennis Hogan could have been a one-time world title challenger after he couldn't convince three judges in Monterrey, Mexico that he outboxed Jaime Munguia for the WBO junior middleweight title back in April.
Despite Hogan being declared the winner in the court of public opinion, the reality was that he couldn't win the WBO title. After a failed attempt at a rematch, it seemed like Hogan might never have gotten another shot at a world title ever again.
Fast forward nearly eight months later and Hogan did get that second crack at a world title, this time against WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo on December 7.
"We did chase the rematch and then we found out that was a dead end. So we actually had someone locked in for a title eliminator fight but that fight fell through. And we were lucky enough then that Jermall Charlo being the champion that he is offered me to fight for the WBC," Hogan told Fightful in a recent media call.
In Hogan's own words, securing another big fight so soon was a bit tough, but after losing what was previously the biggest match of his career by a controversial scorecard, all he could do was hope that light would be at the end of the tunnel.
"So it was a tough couple of months trying to make that fight happen and then having another fight fall apart but again, you know, we kept our head down, kept the faith and luckily my team was able to pull off this fight. And big credit to the team, Jermall Charlo also and to everybody for making this fight and I have certainly put my hand up to take it and here we are now ready for a cracking fight," Hogan said.
But coming back to fight another tough champion in Charlo right after facing Munguia is no easy task and coming out of a loss, Hogan's ability to bounce back from that loss will be tested. It's not the first time he's lost in the ring and was able to turn his first pro loss into a six-fight win streak that earned him the Munguia fight in the first place.
A couple of weeks after losing his first world title challenge, Hogan was back in the gym and doing some soul searching, figuring out what the future looked like for the 34-year-old.
"When I left there I really genuinely felt like I won. But from this I genuinely felt like I won so my chin and my head was held high and I said okay, I can come back up and I can make it. I can do better than that. So I got back into training. I had a couple of weeks off. When I got back into training we worked hard to become a better fighter all around and now this opportunity is showing up. So I mean, that's in the past. I have no resentments with all of that. It is what it is. It just set me up for a bigger success story for the future," Hogan said.
Fighting as a middleweight, Hogan fully believes he has more pop in his punches and with the benefit of not having to cut six more pounds when he did in his last fight, Hogan's confidence appears to be sky-high.
Though six pounds may seem like a lot to some boxers, Hogan embraces the change and says he didn't have to go through much in order to comfortably make the adjustment.
"Look, it's not a big difference. In terms of strengths we have been able to keep my muscle build. My strength stays a little bit longer. But we had a lot of time for this fight so we actually were able to keep that going and gained another kilo of muscle. I mean, that's all I need because now it's really about not having to dehydrate so much. I'm very good at doing this and I can still perform very well. But I have always wondered, do I punch as hard as I used to when I was middle welter-super middleweight before? On Saturday night we are going to find out. I'm excited," Hogan said.
Charlo vs. Hogan for the WBC middleweight title headlines the December 7 Showtime Championship Boxing card from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
