Well, this is new.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Wednesday’s super welterweight clash between Tim Tszyu and Dennis Hogan is in some last-minute danger, as Hogan “has sensationally vowed to cancel his Wednesday night showdown with Tim Tszyu if prevented from wearing a pair of sponsored boxing trunks.”
More specifically, Hogan (28-3-1, 7 KO) has been barred from wearing shorts bearing sponsor PointsBet’s logo, as the card “has Sportsbet as its preferred betting partner.” The Irishman is not taking this demand lying down.
“They’ve basically tried to pull money from me,” Hogan said.
“Pull money from my family.
“It’s not good.
“My sponsors put bread on the table for my family.
“So wearing that shirt, what does it take away from the promoters? What does it take away from their betting agency?
“I didn’t get emotional about it today, but I have PointsBet across the front band of my shorts and I will be wearing them into the fight on Wednesday.”
No Limit Boxing’s Matt Rose is holding firm as well, saying Hogan can’t “wear his trunks to the ring unless the rival betting agency was somehow covered over.”
“And they’ve told me if that is the case they won’t come out,” Rose said.
“But we won’t be bowing to that.
“I actually think it’s disrespectful from the Hogan team.
“If you’re playing in the NRL and they say you can’t promote Optus because Telstra is the major sponsor, well, that’s how it is.
“We’ve got a lot of good people helping us put on these shows and you can’t just go and grab a competitor as your sponsor because you feel like it
“So Dennis Hogan won’t be wearing those trunks to the ring. That’s it.”
Will anything come of this? I doubt it; I’d applaud Hogan’s chutzpah if he actually followed through on his threat, but I’d imagine that a little money under the table will solve the issue in a jiffy.