Tim Tszyu vs Dennis Hogan set for March 31 in Australia

Official social media pages for Tim Tszyu and Dennis Hogan both confirm that a deal is in place and the date is set for the two fighters to square off on Mar. 31 in Australia, with further details to be announced.

The 26-year-old Tszyu (17-0, 13 KO) is working his way into contention at 154 pounds, following a one-sided drubbing of former welterweight titlist Jeff Horn last August, and wrapping up his year with a first round thrashing of Bowyn Morgan on Dec. 16. He was hoping to get into a WBO title fight, but Patrick Teixeira is set to make his mandatory defense against Brian Castano on Feb. 13, so Tszyu is staying busy and taking on a solid opponent for the time being.

Hogan (28-3-1, 7 KO) is still best-known for a controversial decision loss to Jaime Munguia in Apr. 2019 in Monterrey, Mexico, a fight that easily could have gone Hogan’s way on the cards, but didn’t. Less-discussed is his follow-up bout in Dec. 2019, when he was dominated by Jermall Charlo in a move up to middleweight.

Hogan, 35, can certainly be a tricky opponent, but his effective trickiness seems largely to depend on the other fighter being extremely basic, which Munguia can be. His other loss was a decision against Jack Culcay in 2015, which was a deserved Culcay win for sure. Tszyu has shown sincere dedication and potential, and likely will not be as relatively simple a task as Munguia can be with his one-speed, flat-footed approach.

That’s not to say Hogan isn’t a solid opponent for Tszyu at this stage, because he is, and if Tszyu starts getting ahead of himself, or doesn’t have a good camp, or just has an off-night, Hogan is the type of guy who can turn into a pain.

No word on potential U.S. outlet for this one yet. ESPN+ did air Horn-Tszyu but not Tszyu-Morgan, and a Hogan fight is sort of in the middle between those two, I’d say. DAZN could certainly have interest with their global expansion and all.