Dean Lonergan
 Lonergan in 2012
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| Full name | Dean Robert Lonergan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dean Robert Lonergan is a New Zealand retired professional rugby league player, former Radio host, former co owner of Duco Events and boxing promoter in Australia and New Zealand under D & L Events. With Duco founder David Higgins, Lonergan has co-promoted world champion boxers Joseph Parker and Jeff Horn. With his son Liam, he has promoted Jai Opetaia, Lani Daniels, Mea Motu, and more.
Rugby League career
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. He spent 1989 with the Rochdale Hornets in England.
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. However he returned to the field and New Zealand won the match.
Warriors
Lonergan was a board member of the Auckland Warriors from 1996 until 1997.
Boxing
Beginning of Fight for Life, Shane Cameron 2000 - 2008
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. Lonergan first Boxrec recognised professional boxing event was June 2007 with Shane Camerson headlining the event. Shane Cameron was originally scheduled to take on former IBF World Cruiserweight champion Kelvin Davis who was dubbed "Little Tyson". In a bizaare 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 frieght from cars being on the otherside of the road and jumped the bridge to escape. The event was successful with Cameron winning his fight with last minute replacement, Brazilian Jucimar Francisco Hipolito.
Duco Events 2009 - 2017
Fight of the Century 2009
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. The event was quite successful with Duco Events turning a profit. 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.
Fight for life continues, After Fight of the century 2010 - 2013
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. 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. Tua won the fight by unanimous decision. 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. Unfortunately, all three Williams, Lomu and Matheson pulled out of the event. 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. Duco added a $20,000 knockout bonus to the fight for an extra incentive. 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. 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. 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.
Joseph Parker and Jeff Horn 2011 - 2017
Joseph Parker Pro Debut, New Zealand Title, International Stage 2011 - 2013
In 2011, Duco, began to take interest with amateur boxer Joseph Parker and began negotiations with Parker for his eventual pro career. Parker made his pro debut on the Shane Cameron vs Monte Barrett undercard. 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. This fight comes after Botha lost a controversial split decision to Sonny Bill Williams. Parker won the fight by second-round KO. Lonergan stated he has full intentions to push Parker hard and keep him busy. In 2013, Duco offered Sonny Bill Williams one millian dollar purse to take on Joseph Parker for his New Zealand title. Williams never took the bout. Parker would took on Afa Tatupu for Tatupu New Zealand National (NZNBF version) Heavyweight title in October 2013. Parker won the fight by second round Knockout, however, Parker received the worst cuts you can ever get for a boxer. Lonergan described it less of a cut and more of a canyon. The cut would put Parker career on hold as it needed time to heal.
Joseph Parker and Jeff Horn Rankings Climb 2014 - 2016
In 2014, Jeff Horn signed with Duco. 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.
Joseph Parker World title 2016 - 2017
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. Discussions and negotiations began after Fury was expected to be stripped of his WBO title over inactivity and testing positive for cocaine. 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. Parker won a Majority Decision. Parker would defend the title again in New Zealand in May 2017 and in the UK in September 2017.
Expansion into Australia 2016 - 2017
Lonergan would expand Duco to Australia with their first fight night being on 24 April 2016 with Jeff Horn being the main eventer.
Jeff Horn World title 2017
The bout was initially announced in January 2017. The fight was finalized in April 2017, with the city of Brisbane and the Queensland government financing it. Lonergan accused Pacquiao for not taking the fight seriously as Pacquiao was using his phone during press conferences, calling him a "world champion texter". The event was very successful selling over 40,000 with less than a month to go before the fight. Horn won the fight by unanimous decision.
Duco Split
In May 2017, it was announced that the co owners of Duco Events between Lonergan and David Higgins had officilly begun splitting their partnership. It was noted that this was going to be a complicated process. Essentially 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 has estimated to have been finalised in 2018.
D & L Events
After Spliting with Duco, Lonergan created a new event company, going into business with his son Liam, to create D & L Events.
Australia 2018 - 2022
Lonergan first boxing event under his new business was with Jeff Horn vs Anthony Mundine in November 2018 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. 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. The fight was postponded multiple times due to injury and illnesses. The fight was rescheduled for July 2. Opetaia won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116–112, 116–112 and 115–113. During the fight, Opetaia badly broke his jaw in two places. In 2023, Lonergan lost the FOX Sports TV Rights in Australia. Due to this, his contracts with his roster became null void.
New Zealand 2022 - Present
Fight for Life returned to New Zealand in July 2022. 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. Motu won the fight by Unanimous Decision. Lonergan would sign IBF World Heavyweight Champion Lani Daniels. Both Mea Motu and Lani Daniels would co main event Lonergans events.
Other Events
Lonergan has held many other events outside of boxing including Cirque Rocks. Lonergan noted this event cost 2.5 millon but only turned over about $1.5 million, putting him in 1.8 million in debt. Along with David Higgins with Duco Events, Lonergan promoted multiple sporting events including NRL Nines and Brisbane Global Rugby Tens.
Other Work
Media
Lonergan was a columnist for NZ Herald. He was also a radio announcer for multiple radio stations, mostly focused on Sports.
Politics
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. Of 14 candidates, he came sixth with 105 votes with the percentage of 0.60% .
Controversies
In 2018, Lonergan admitted he went behind WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn's back in accessing his social media pages, using the LGBTIQ community in a publicity stunt to sell tickets to a fight. Lonergan wanted to use trangender people as ring girls. Former two-time WBA Super-Middleweight Champion Anthony Mundine has described Lonergan as a "despicable human being," while the New Zealand Herald says Lonergan "would sell his own grandmother if there was any publicity in it." A major player in Australian boxing over six years, Lonergan alienated himself with Fox Sports who cancelled their broadcast deal with D & L Events in December 2022 Lonergan was unsuccessfully suing the fighters who abandoned him and has since returned to New Zealand to re-start his promoting business.
Honours
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.
Promoted Boxers
| Boxer | Estimated Date of Signed | Estimated Date of Departure | Number of fights Promoted by Lonergan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mea Motu | 2023 | Present | 3 |
| Lani Daniels | 2023 | Present | 3 |
| Jerome Pampellone | 2022 | Present | 6 |
| Andrei Mikhailovich | 2021 | Present | 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 |