A COMPLAINT LODGED by Dennis Hogan’s management over the Kildare boxer’s recent defeat to Jaime Munguia has been denied by the World Boxing Organisation (WBO).

Earlier this month, Munguia retained his WBO light-middleweight title with a controversial majority-decision win in his native Mexico against the 34-year-old Irishman.

However, the result raised eyebrows as many observers questioned the assessment of the judges, who scored the fight 114-114, 115-113, 116-112 in the champion’s favour.

“I knew I won the fight,” Hogan, who’s based in Australia, said at the time. “I knew in my heart and soul. I’m so disappointed to train as hard as I did and for this to happen.”

This evening, the WBO released a statement which divulged the results of a re-scoring conducted by five ‘competent’ independent judges. When re-scored, the bout was determined to be a draw.

The original verdict — a majority-decision Munguia victory — will stand, per the WBO.

Of the five review judges, none of whom were from Mexico or Australia (Hogan fights out of Brisbane), three scored the bout even at 114-114. One scored the bout 115-113 in Hogan’s favour, while another had the same score for champion Munguia.

The five judges in question watched the bout without sound.

The WBO’s statement this evening concluded: “It can be established that the results favour Jaime Munguia. Taking these findings into consideration, the complaint presented by Team Hogan on 16 April, 2019 is hereby denied.” 

Should Hogan’s camp wish to lodge a further appeal to the WBO’s Complaint and Grievance Committee, they have 14 days to do so. 

Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Andy Dunne to get stuck into last weekend’s Champions Cup semi-finals.:

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