Rogan: This is our World title fight by British Boxing Apr 9th 2008

Belfast heavyweight Martin Rogan believes Friday, April 11th will be the most important night of his boxing career. Rogan, 33, is one of eight men competing in the first Prizefighter competition, which will be screened live on Sky Sports 1 from 9.30pm. Each bout will last a maximum of 3x3 minute rounds and Rogan, who is one of three undefeated men among the line-up, cannot wait for the tournament to start. "This is our world title fight," said Rogan. "You've got eight heavyweights all going head-to-head and the sky's the limit if you win. "There's no down side, you would have won the biggest competition in heavyweight boxing at the moment. "By fighting and winning this a lot of things would come out of it and it would be the start of a new era for yourself. "Even if you don't win, the promotional side of it will mean you will be offered more fights in the future." Rogan, who has won all seven of his professional contests, is a former Irish Amateur Champion and represented his country in the qualifiers for the 2004 Olympics. However, before being invited into Prizefighter, he was close to hanging up his gloves due to a lack of available fights. "I was on the verge of packing boxing in," said Rogan. "I was so inactive back home in Belfast but then this chance came up and I took it. "In Ireland there aren't enough promoters and fights were being cancelled. You couldn't come over here and fight on the mainland as it was easier for promoters to get somebody from just a few miles away rather than bring myself over. "I would've probably gone into coaching the amateurs and get the kids in and teach them boxing." Rogan travelled to the Sky Sports studios last Saturday for the live draw, which was held on Soccer AM, and will meet 22-year-old Alex Ibbs in his first fight. The full quarter-final draw is David Ferguson (Wallsend) v Billy Bessey (Portsmouth), Alex Ibbs (Stoke-on-Trent) v Martin Rogan (Belfast), Paul Butlin (Melton Mowbray) v Colin Kenna (Southampton) and Darren Morgan (Swansea) v David Dolan (Sunderland). "Boxing is a beautiful sport," added Rogan. "It has been good to me and I intend to win this. I did not come here for a Crackerjack pen!"

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