 Lonergan in 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Dean Robert Lonergan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dean Robert Lonergan MNZM is a former New Zealand boxing promoter and rugby league player. With Duco founder David Higgins, Lonergan had success promoting world champion boxers Joseph Parker and Jeff Horn. With his son Liam, he promoted Jai Opetaia, Lani Daniels and Mea Motu [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Lonergan represented the New Zealand national rugby league team from 1986 to 1991 and also represented Auckland. He played for the Glenora Bears and City Newton Dragons in the Auckland Rugby League competition and the Canberra Raiders in the NSWRL Premiership. [7] He spent 1989 with the Rochdale Hornets in England. [8]
In a Test match against Australia in Melbourne in 1991, Lonergan clashed famously with Kangaroo forward Steve Roach and had to be carried from the field. [9] However he returned to the field and New Zealand won the match.
Lonergan was a board member of the Auckland Warriors from 1996 until 1997. [7]
Lonergan started promoting boxing in the late 90s with one of his most successful shows being Fight for Life. Fight For Life started being televised from 2001 more than $500,000 for charity. [10] Lonergan first Boxrec recognised professional boxing event was June 2007 with Shane Camerson headlining the event. [11] Shane Cameron was originally scheduled to take on former IBF World Cruiserweight champion Kelvin Davis who was dubbed "Little Tyson". [12] [13] In a bizarre turn of events Davis had to pull out after breaking his back from jumping over Auckland's Greenhithe bridge. Lonergan believed that Davis got a lift from cars being on the other side of the road and jumped the bridge to escape. [14] The event was successful with Cameron winning his fight with last minute replacement, Brazilian Jucimar Francisco Hipolito. [15]
Lonergan began working with Duco Events as head of corporate sales and eventually co promoter & co owner in 2009 where Duco hosted their first event dubbed Fight of the Century. [16] The event was quite successful with Duco Events turning a profit. [17] It was confirmed that 7500 tickets were sold (750 corporate tables of 10 people), and 88,000 Pay Per Views buys for the event. The PPV buys were considered a world record on a per-capita country basis. [18]
Duco continued promoting Tua, Cameron and Fight for Life after Fight of the Century. The first fight night after Tua vs Cameron was Tua taking on the person who stopped Cameron, Friday Ahunanya. [19] Even though Ahunanya had stopped Cameron in the past, it was a hard job for Lonergan to sell out the event, with New Zealand at the time in 2010 was considered a "soft Market" for commercial professional boxing. [20] Tua won the fight by unanimous decision. [21] Throughout 2011, Duco worked had to make a big fight night in December 2011. Many fights were in the talks including Sonny Bill Williams vs Jonah Lomu, Lonergan himself against "Truth Sports Hack" writer John Matheson. [22] [23] Unfortunately, all three Williams, Lomu and Matheson pulled out of the event. [24] [25] [26] The event would be headlined by Shane Cameron vs Monty Betham in a grudge match after the two fought each other in a bar a few years prior to the fight. [27] Duco added a $20,000 knockout bonus to the fight for an extra incentive. [28] Cameron won the fight by unanimous decision with no one gaining the knockout bonus. The event cost around 1.3 Million dollars with $166,000 donated to Prostate awareness charity. [29] [30] Duco promoted David Tua and Shane Cameron in 2013. In November 2013, in David Tua retirement fight against Aleksandr Ustinov with Wladimir Klitschko's promoter Alexander Krasyuk watching in the crowd. [31] In December 2013, Shane Cameron fight in his second to last fight and last fight with duco against Brian Minto with the winner fighting Joseph Parker. [32]
In 2011, Duco, began to take interest with amateur boxer Joseph Parker and began negotiations with Parker for his eventual pro career. [33] Parker made his pro debut on the Shane Cameron vs Monte Barrett undercard. [34] After five fights, Parker was thrown into the deep end to take on Francois Botha. Lonergan acknowledge this was a major risk for Parker who was early in his career. [35] This fight comes after Botha lost a controversial split decision to Sonny Bill Williams. [36] Parker won the fight by second-round KO. Lonergan stated he has full intentions to push Parker hard and keep him busy. [37] In 2013, Duco offered Sonny Bill Williams one millian dollar purse to take on Joseph Parker for his New Zealand title. [38] Williams never took the bout. Parker would take on Afa Tatupu for Tatupu New Zealand National (NZNBF version) Heavyweight title in October 2013. [39] Parker won the fight by second round Knockout, however, Parker received the worst cuts you can ever get for a boxer. [40] Lonergan described it less of a cut and more of a canyon. [41] The cut would put Parker career on hold as it needed time to heal.
In 2014, Jeff Horn signed with Duco. [42] From here Duco Events became very successful promoting on average five events a year between New Zealand, Australia and one special event in Samoa. One of the highlights during this time was the fight between Joseph Parker and Kali Meehan with six regional titles. [43]
In late October, the Parker vs. Ruiz Jr. world title fight had been officially sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization. The organisation had granted permission to Parker fighting Ruiz Jr. for their belt with their championship committee voting unanimously in favor of the title fight. [44] Discussions and negotiations began after Fury was expected to be stripped of his WBO title over inactivity and testing positive for cocaine. [45] There was a chance that the fight would not happen in New Zealand as it was a significant cost to host a world title in New Zealand with Lonergan stating there was potencial the event would make a financial loss. [46] Parker won a Majority Decision. Parker would defend the title again in New Zealand in May 2017 and in the UK in September 2017.
Lonergan would expand Duco to Australia with their first fight night being on 24 April 2016 with Jeff Horn being the main eventer. [47]
The bout was initially announced in January 2017. [48] The fight was finalized in April 2017, [49] with the city of Brisbane and the Queensland government financing it. [50] Lonergan accused Pacquiao for not taking the fight seriously as Pacquiao was using his phone during press conferences, calling him a "world champion texter". [51] The event was very successful selling over 40,000 with less than a month to go before the fight. [52] Horn won the fight by unanimous decision. [53]
In May 2017, the co owners of Duco Events between Lonergan and David Higgins had officially begun the complicated process of ending their partnership. [54] Lonergan would get the Australian boxing market and take Jeff Horn while Higgins would keep the New Zealand boxing market and take Joseph Parker. The "business divorce" between the two was estimated to have been finalised in 2018. [55]
After splitting with Duco, Lonergan created a new event company, going into business with his son Liam, to create D & L Events. [56]
Lonergan first boxing event under his new business was with Jeff Horn vs Anthony Mundine in November 2018 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. [57] [58] In 2019 and 2020, Lonergan would sign a full roster of boxers in Australia including Isaac Hardman, Jai Opetaia, Justis Huni, Brock Jarvis, Jayde Mitchell and Campbell Somerville. Lonergan was able to continue promoting shows during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia. In 2022, it was announced that Opetaia will fight reigning IBF and The Ring cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis. [59] The fight was postponed multiple times due to injury and illnesses. [60] [61] The fight was rescheduled for July 2. [62] Opetaia won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116–112, 116–112 and 115–113. [63] During the fight, Opetaia badly broke his jaw in two places. In 2023, Lonergan lost the FOX Sports TV Rights in Australia. [64] Due to this, his contracts with his roster became null void. [65]
Fight for Life returned to New Zealand in July 2022. [66] In 2022, Lonergan would sign multiple boxers from Peach Boxing including Jerome Pampellone, Andrei Mikhailovich, Mea Motu and Zain Adams. In April 2023, Lonergan will have his first female main event with Mea Moto to fight for the IBO World Super Bantamweight title. [67] Motu won the fight by Unanimous Decision. [68] Lonergan would sign IBF World Heavyweight Champion Lani Daniels. [69] Both Mea Motu and Lani Daniels would co main event Lonergans events. In February 2024, Peach Boxing announced their departure with Dean Lonergan D&L Events and had signed with No Limit Boxing under Matt and George Rose. [70]
Lonergan has held many other events outside of boxing including Cirque Rocks. Lonergan noted this event cost $2.5 million but only turned over about $1.5 million, putting him $1.8 million in debt. [71] [72] Along with David Higgins with Duco Events, Lonergan promoted multiple sporting events including NRL Nines and Brisbane Global Rugby Tens. [73] [74]
Lonergan was a columnist for NZ Herald . [75] [76] He was also a radio announcer for multiple radio stations, mostly focused on Sports. [77]
Following the resignation of Robert Muldoon, Lonergan stood in the 1992 Tamaki by-election for a seat in the 43rd New Zealand Parliament, as a stunt for Radio Hauraki. [78] Of 14 candidates, he came sixth with 105 votes with the percentage of 0.60% . [79]
Former two-time WBA Super-Middleweight Champion Anthony Mundine has described Lonergan as a "despicable human being." [80] [81]
After a four-year association, broadcast partner Fox Sports abruply cancelled their deal with Lonergan's D & L Events in December 2022. [80] Lonergan was immediately abandoned by his fighters and unsuccessfully sued them. [82] In 2023 he returned home to restart his promoting business in New Zealand by signing a new stable of kiwi fighters.
On 23 February 2024, the New Zealand Herald reported that Lonergan's D & L Events had suffered multi-million dollar losses and his financial backers had pulled rank at short notice. His fighters had been released from their contracts. Lonergan did not deny the business had lost $2 million. [83]
In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, Lonergan was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sport and philanthropy. [84]
| Boxer | Estimated Date of Signed | Estimated Date of Departure | Number of fights Promoted by Lonergan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mea Motu | 2023 | February 2024 | 3 |
| Lani Daniels | 2023 | July 2024 | 2 |
| Jerome Pampellone | 2022 | February 2024 | 6 |
| Andrei Mikhailovich | 2021 | February 2024 | 5 |
| Isaac Hardman | 2019 | 2022 | 9 |
| Jai Opetaia | 2020 | 2022 | 3 |
| Justis Huni | 2020 | 2022 | 7 |
| Brock Jarvis | 2019 | 2022 | 3 |
| Jayde Mitchell | 2019 | 2020 | 2 |
| Campbell Somerville | 2020 | 2022 | 2 |
| Joseph Parker | August 2012 | June 2019 | 22 |
| Jeff Horn | July 2014 | 2020 | 16 |
| David Letele | July 2014 | December 2018 | 16 |
| Robert Berridge | October 2013 | January 2015 | 4 |
| Izuagbe Ugonoh | October 2014 | December 2016 | 8 |
| Bowyn Morgan | 2015 | 2016 | 6 |
| Nikolas Charalampous | 2013 | 2016 | 4 |
| David Tua | 2009 (first promoted fight with Lonergan) | 2013 (last promoted fight with Lonergan) | 3 |
| Shane Cameron | 2007 (first fight promoted fight with Lonergan) | 2013 (last promoted fight with Lonergan) | 5 |
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