Dave Allen is back to being ambitious again and hunting down a shot at the British title should he defeat Johnny Fisher this Saturday.
The pair will square off at London’s Copperbox Arena after a controversial first encounter out in Saudi Arabia, which saw Fisher win by split decision. Many doubted Allen coming into the contest after he quit on his stool against Frazer Clarke a year earlier and all his wins in recent years had come on the small-hall scene.
Allen himself admitted that he was nervous coming into the contest and believed it would be his last bout. The 33-year-old Allen then went on to prove all doubters wrong, and maybe even himself, by dropping Fisher in the fifth and seemingly doing enough to take the decision.
Many in the arena and at home saw Allen as a clear winner, but two of the judges positioned ringside did not agree and awarded the fight to Fisher. Although Allen had suffered the seventh loss of his professional career, he saw his stock rise in defeat.
The fighter who was once adored by British fight fans had won back their hearts with his performance, and now more big nights are on the horizon.
“I've got dreams. I stopped dreaming for a while – I'm back dreaming again,” Allen told BoxingScene. “I'd like to win the British title, I'd like to box in America. I would have liked to have got to fight in a football ground. But, yeah, I'm back dreaming again, and it's nice to do that. So, yeah, one fight at a time. But I'm back ambitious again. It's nice.
“I'm not delusional. I'm ambitious, not delusional. You see what I mean? I don't want [Oleksandr] Usyk or [Daniel] Dubois. I want the British title. You've got to be ambitious but realistic. So, yeah, I want to get into the British title mix.”
The current holder of the British title is David Adeleye, who recently won the title with a controversial knockout over Jaime “TKV” Tshikeva. The pair have been ordered to face each other in a rematch by the British Boxing Board of Control.
“Beat Johnny, I'm happy to box the winner of that,” Allen said. “The Hughie Fury fight has been mentioned – he's with GBM Sports, who are now a friend of mine. So everything's an option. Four-rounders are an option for me. Anything, I'll box wherever. I just want to keep involved. It keeps me young.”
A win over Fisher puts Allen right back up there with the top UK domestic fighters. But where does a loss leave him?
“Battling in four-rounders,” he admitted. “It is what it is. As long as I'm healthy, as long as I pass my scans, I can still box at a good level. I can be competitive at a level that is respectable. I'll continue on.”
Although Allen says he will fight on – win or lose – against Fisher, he is realistic that his time in the sport is limited. Allen now has a young family, and knowing he may not have many more big nights, he brought them down to a recent press conference in London.
“I just said to my missus, ‘It's brilliant – I want to bring the kids down,’” Allen said. “I want to, because I'm not going to be doing this forever. Like I said, I want to continue on as long as I can. But you're looking like, what, two or three years max? So I just wanted to bring them down.
“They’re not really old enough to take it in, but I just want them to see what their old man does. Get pictures that one day they’ll look back and go, ‘Oh, look, I was there watching my dad.’ It's a big thing really. I'm headlining in London again. I'm normally … I'm a kid from a fucking little shithole back home, do you know what I mean? So it's important to me, yeah.”
Tom Ivers is an amateur boxer who has a masters degree in sports journalism. He had his first bout in 2013, joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams.