 Shortly after, the manager of the reigning New York World lightweight champion Beau Jack, Chick Wergeles, turned down an offer of 10,000 from promoter John Attell, for Jack to defend his championship against Kogan in his hometown of New London.Though Wergeles said he turned it down because he could get far more if the fight took place in New York, it seems equally likely he feared risking Jack's lightweight title after he watched Kogon complete his fifth consecutive knockout against Buster Beaupre in New Haven that December.Before a record crowd of 7,751 on June 6, 1944, he fought the legendary featherweight Willie Pep in an extraordinary bout in Hartford, Connecticut, though he lost in an eight-round decision.