By James Slater: Unfortunately, as his fans know, a Martin Rogan-Tyson Fury fight could not, for whatever reasons be made, but the 40-year-old former “Prizefighter” and Commonwealth heavyweight champ now has another fight set. “Rogie,” inactive since November of last year, will face experienced Panamanian Luis Andres Pineda at The Odyssey Arena in Belfast on October 27th. At stake in the bout will be the vacant WBU title.
Rogan still has big ambitions and he will look to rid himself of some rust against the 37-year-old visitor with the modest 22-10-1(18) record. Realistically, unless he has grown old during his period of inactivity, Rogan should have things all his own way against Pineda; a fighter who has been stopped ten times as a pro.
Rogan is no massive heavyweight, yet at 6’3” and around 235-pounds he will be both the bigger and taller man in the ring when he meets the 5’10,” approx 225-pounder known as “El Lenador.” Pineda, a former cruiserweight (he fought plenty of big names down at cruiser, including Tomasz Adamek, TKO by 7, Valery Brudov, TKO by 11 and Wayne Braithwaite, TKO by 1), has only had five fights as a heavyweight. The draw he picked up against Evans Quinn wasn’t a bad showing, and going the full ten with Timur Ibragimov in October of last year suggests Pineda can be durable on occasion, but the fighter from Robert Duran country was stopped inside six-rounds last time out, when he met promising Cuban hope Luis Ortiz.
Loser of six of his last eight outings, Pineda will cause a big upset if he can pull off a win over Rogan. But at a certain level (cruiserweight), Pineda can punch (18 KO’s) and if Rogan has lost a step or two due to age and inactivity, things could get a little interesting for a round or three. Rogan is almost always in exciting fights and he has already given us some memorable battles. The back-to-back stoppage losses the former cab driver suffered at the hands of Sam Sexton back in 2009 halted a real run, and it remains to be seen how much those tough losses took out of Rogan.
The Belfast man has won a couple since, and he should make it three against Pineda (and pick up the WBU belt into the bargain), but can Rogan get back up to the level he was back when he was defeating Audley Harrison and Matt Skelton?
Look for “Rogie” to get a decent workout in front of his loyal fans next month, as he despatches a game Pineda inside four-to-six rounds.