Junior middleweight contender Dennis Hogan is confident that his skills and experience will be enough to overcome the undefeated Tim Tszyu, who is being pushed as the biggest star in Australian boxing.

Hogan, a former Australian champion, will collide with Tszyu on March 31.

The 35-year-old veteran is not surprised that most observers are viewing Tszyu as the overwhelming favorite.

“I expected every bit of it,” Hogan told Irish-boxing.com. “It’s always a big hype train around the Aussies."

Hogan is now being trained by former world champion Wayne McCullough.

Tszyu, the son of former champion and Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu, has been rising quickly in the ranks after demolishing former world champion Jeff Horn in eight rounds in August of last year.

Hogan expects a very competitive fight when they finally meet in the ring.

“The boxing purest know how good of a fight this is, appreciate it and know the problems I will cause for Tim’s style but the casual fan will be in for a surprise. All they have to do is look at my previous fights and they’ll see the caliber I have been mixing it with," Hogan said.

Hogan was due to return in December with a fight against former world champion Jullian Williams. The fight was postponed after Williams was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Because of that cancellation, Hogan has been out of the ring since December 2019, when he moved up to the middleweight division and was knocked out by the physically larger Jermall Charlo at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

While many believe Tszyu picked him as the next name opponent on the domestic scene - Hogan explains that he gave his team the necessary marching orders to secure the bout with Tszyu.

“Tszyu didn’t choose me, I chose him ! I told my team get me this fight and they delivered,” Hogan said.