Could be the best thing to happen to british heavyweight boxing in a while (Martin Rogan)

Member Name: iamasadlittleboy

Product:	Martin Rogan
Date:	13/04/09 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tough, Rough, Exciting, Brawler

Disadvantages: Perhaps lack genuine pop, No real Technique

How many Taxi drivers can you think of that have a relevance in some way to boxing? If you really scratch your head you might be able two come up with 2 or 3, one of which may very well be Robert DeNiro for his movie roles as Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) and Jake Lamotta (Raging Bull) and one may very well be Mick "The Rub" Williamson better known as Ricky Hatton's cut man. But outside the few who have recently heard about the Irish man Martin Rogan, can you think of any others to live a double life?

Rogan had been pointed out by a member of a forum I use as being a bit of a rough and tough fighter, with rumours of facing Northern Irish prospect Scott Belshaw somewhere down the line. Now whilst Belshaw's rebuilding (rather swiftly admittedly) after his shock loss to Daniel Peret his older countryman is on the cusp of of his own Cinderella man story to rival the great James J Braddock.
Braddock as many know was a former light-heavyweight champion who was down on his luck and had been given a second chance, in what was thought as him being the proverbial lamb to the slaughter. Braddock managed to reach the top of the tree turning around the bad fortune that had befallen him during the depression of the 30's. Coincidentally as the depression of the 00's is arising the tale of the currently 12-0 (6) Rogan is starting to excel into a fairy tale of it's own.

Rogie who made his professional début at the advanced age of 33 has come along nicely in his 12 fights so far and has claimed scalps many with a similar ledger could merely wish for. Though starting with his pro contest against Lee Mountford who'd be in 11 previous fights (3-5-3) and only stopped by the national level fighter Lee Swaby (who 4 years previously had beaten a then 3-0 Enzo Maccarinelli). Rogan made his début one to remember, for those that didn't blink taking Mountford out within a mere 40 seconds of the first round.

He had caught the attention of some from back home in the emerald isle but apart from those there that night to watch the 4-fight card in Belfast no one had seen the destruction which had opened the true doors to professional boxing for the cabbie from Belfast.

Rogan would have to go back to the day job for 5 months before his next fight which was with English heavyweight Billy Bessey who was 4-2-0 going into the fight, the 2 losses on his record were oddly enough against fighters who's names have made national paper. His second fight was against Mark Hobson (who himself held 2 wins over Swaby) and a man connected to Ricky Hatton, his bodyguard Paul King, much like Hobson and King, Rogan would the fight clearly on points before moving on.

Rogans third fight was against veteran journeyman Tony Booth who's record amassed to 45-82-8, which despite looking terrible on paper, did include some notable names and a brilliant stand out win, and for a fighters third opponent was an incredibly tough fight to take. Booth had fought future EBU champion Michael Sprott, 3 future Cruiserweight champions (Maccarinelli twice, David Haye and Firat Arslan), future English heavyweight champion (John McDermott), the once highly touted Roman Greenberg, the current prospect Derek Chisora. He would also beat future Joe Calzaghe opponent Omar Sheika (giving Sheika his first loss), and Booth had also fought David Dolan (a name that will pop up a little later on).

Rogan stopped Booth knocking him down 3 times in the second round to score a TKO and take himself to 3-0 (2), before following it up with a victory over fellow unbeaten fighter Darren Morgan who had also scored a victory over Booth (also in his third fight; a points decision). Morgan was clearly outpointed on the night in the King's hall. The fight was on the undercard of Eamonn Magee/Takaloo and featured Danny Williams and Olympic silver Medallist Amir Khan who was featuring in his 7th contest as a professional against Lazlo Komjanthi. So this card really helped put Rogan onto the next level as far as awareness, on a big televised card live on ITV (though I'm unsure as to whether Rogan's fight was televised).

His fourth contest was against Paul King who was 5-8-1 and had previously beaten former Rogan victim Bessey and been in the ring with some semi-known fighters such as Mickey Steeds, Albert Sosnowski and Scott Gammer, but never really shown much promise. Rogan added to Kings losses by outpointing him on a card that featured Belshaw's debut against Lee Webb, a fight that was over before it had really began (the contest last a mere 10 seconds), as can be seen in the video link at the end of this article.

Rogan then fought just 19 days later against Latvian Jevgenijs Stamburskis in a fight that Rogan won via 3rd round TKO, Stamburskis had a record of 1-4 going into the contest which suggest that he was probably the worst opponent Rogan had faced. After this fight Rogan took his longest break that was around a year long, before returning to the ring to face Radcliffe Green who's record of 4-19-1 has to be looked at twice, he'd only won twice in the previous 6 years (just, it was almost the 6th anniversary of the first of those wins). Rogan stopped Green in the 2nd round, in a fight that could only be excused due to his absence from the the ring.

Rogan would then disappear for around 6 months, before appearing on the original Prize Fighter TV show that Sky had agreed to show on it's Friday Night Fights on Sky Sports. The idea was an 8 man elimination series of 3 3 minutes rounds which the winner of each fight passing to the next round, and the entire series was to be fought in one night.
The contestants were:
Martin Rogan 7-0-0 (4)
Dave Ferguson 5-0-0 (2)
Billy Bessey 7-5-0 (0)
Alex Ibbs 3-1-0 (0)
Paul Butlin 11-5-0 (2)
Colin Kenna 16-6-2 (7)
David Dolan 7-0-0 (3)
Darren Morgan 5-3-0 (3)

The brackets would be:
Q1 Rogan V Ibbs (Rogan TKO3)
Q2 Ferguson V Bessey (Ferguson pts)
Q3 Dolan V Morgan (Dolan pts)
Q4 Butlin V Kenna (Butlin TKO2)

S1 Rogan V Ferguson (Rogan pts)
S2 Dolan V Bultin (Dolan pts)

F Rogan V Dolan (Rogan pts)

As a result of winning the tournament Rogan won £25,000 and had now gained national exposure, the fight with Dolan was 9-0 fighter v 9-0 fighter (meaning Rogan finished the tournament 10-0 (5)).
With the exposure gained form the tournament as well as the money Rogan could finally train full time, though his following two first would burst him into a story that's really starting to seem more and more like a modern day fairy tale.

The first of these two wins came when he fought Olympic Super Heavyweight gold medallist Audley Harrison at the end of 2008 on the Khan-Fagan undercard in what was to be the comebacks of Khan and Maccarinelli. Harrison was trying to rebuild his tattered reputation after 3 losses in the previous 7 (leaving him on 23-3-0). He was coming off a disappointing win over Brazilian George Arias in which he was repeatedly boo-ed for his negativity and unwillingness to engage a much smaller foe.
Rogan and Harrison had a close contest that the referee scored 96-95 in Rogans favour in what was seen as a huge upset and the moment that Rogan had really landed, though his next win was even more impressive.

His next contest was against Matt Skelton, a former kick boxer who held a very respectable record of 63-8 and as a kick boxer had won IKF World Title in 2000 stopping Jeff Ford in the final. After this Skelton would compete in professional wrestling and in MMA (losing his first and only MMA contest via submission losing to Tom Erikson.

Matt Skelton, had much like Rogan turned to the sport late, in fact he was 35 when he finally turned his hands to professional boxing, but had managed several key wins and established himself as the #1 in Britain (or #2 if we include David Haye here) by the time his fight with Rogan came along. Skeltons win's included Julius Francis (best known for the advertising on his boots when he faced Mike Tyson), Michael Sprott (twice), Danny Williams, Bob Mirovic, Mark Krence, John McDermott and Paolo Vidoz. Despite having lost twice (once to Williams which was avenged) the only one left un-avenged was a world title shot that he'd lost to WBA Champion Ruslan Chagaev. Skelton had never really looked likely to be stopped in any of his previous contests. Though after a war of attrition in a surprisingly exciting and worth watching fight, Rogans never say die attitude broke Skelton who after receiving shot after shot to the head dropped to the canvas for the first time in his career in the 11th round. With Rogan jumping on the wounded Skelton it was a matter of seconds before John Keane waved the contest over. Before the contest Skelton was the EBU and the Commonwealth heavyweight champion, and despite defending the Commonwealth title against Rogan the EBU title wasn't on the line.

Rogan, who is currently the Commonwealth champion is surely going to build on the success of the last year so could this be the start of a world title charge by the unassuming Irish cabbie? Or is that to be the best he'll ever do? Time will tell, but at age 37 his midnight can't be far away, so he'll need to find his beatable pretending of a crowned prince before it's too late. However with the current state of the heavyweight division, it's an entirely possible situation for him to get a shot at a title some time in the next 24 months.
However it'd seem unlikely he could beat either Klitschko who between them hold 3 titles (WBO, IBF and WBC) and the WBA title is a mess unto it's self, with the next 2 fights for it already sorted out.

Rogan's fairy godmother may not quite have given him the lucky break when it came to timing, but it'll be exciting to see how far he can go in what must be his twilight years. Though he's a young 37 year old as far as boxing goes with only 12 fights and 51 rounds under his belt, and built like a bull, that some have said is reminiscent of the Marciano or Jeffries body type, which may mean he'll have more years in the tank that we may expect.

Despite the fact Rogan's a vulgar brawler with unrelenting aggression and a come-forward manner reminiscent of Rocky Marciano, he lacks the destructive force of The Rock; the ferocity of a Tyson; the pugilistic nous of Jack Johnson; the slick stylings of Muhhammed Ali. Qualities that separate them from the many other fearless warriors to enter fightings blue ribbon division. This could well be his downfall, his single mindedness in beating an opponent up rather than beating an opponent shows perhaps a lack of a plan B however, so far he's not had a need for a plan B though.

Rogan could well be another case of living off wins against fairly poor opposition (Audley and Skelton were never world class) but he may possibly be the real deal...are you lookin' at him?

Notes
Belshaw V Webb can be seen on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul-55NClvVA

Summary: A battler