DAVE ALLEN: FIGHT VS. 'BAYERN MUNICH OF BOXING' HRGOVIC ISN'T MISMATCH
Dave Allen has just spent a morning on the pitch at Doncaster’s Eco-Power Stadium posing for photographs, filming interviews and promoting Saturday’s fight with Filip Hrgovic.
The laidback Allen isn’t one for hyperbole but the scale of the event seems to be dawning on him.
“I'd say it's the biggest sporting event Doncaster’s seen,” the popular heavyweight told The Ring.
Allen (25-8-2, 20 KOs) admits that he hasn’t been a regular visitor to the Eco-Power Stadium.
He grew up around a mile away from the 15,000-capacity venue and regularly runs past it but isn’t an ardent fan of either the Doncaster Rovers football team or the city’s rugby league outfit.
On Saturday night, the 34-year-old Yorkshireman will be the headline attraction.
“Hrgovic is No. 5 in the world. Rovers have never brought Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund or Bayern Munich over here,” Allen said.
“He’s the Bayern Munich of the boxing world and he's coming to fight at Donny Rovers.”
Doncaster Rovers play in League One. For those unfamiliar with the English football league ladder, that is two rungs below the Premier League.
Rather than Manchester United and Liverpool, Doncaster compete against clubs like Burton Albion and Plymouth Argyle.
A team like Doncaster Rovers would have to rely on a whole hearted defensive effort to avoid being comprehensively dismantled by one of the world’s best sides.
They would need to be supremely disciplined and organised during long, sustained spells of pressure and be ruthless and clinical with rare attacking opportunities.
They would also need to rely on a huge amount of luck.
Those all sound like pretty significant tentpoles for the game plan Allen will need to employ against Hrgovic (19-1, 14 KOs) but boxing is much, much more dangerous than a game of football and many have cited their concerns over the inconsistent Allen stepping into the ring with the world class Croatian.
“People talk about this being a dangerous fight but I boxed Luis Ortiz after 19 fights amateur and pro, with no experience at all and on two weeks notice,” Allen reasoned.
“I boxed Tony Yoka on two weeks' notice. Is this guy any better than they was at them points in their careers? I’m not sure that he is.
“I'm a better fighter now, so I don't get that. He’s a big favourite but it's not a dangerous mismatch by any means.”
In October, Allen stepped up to fringe world level and lost a 12-round decision to Arslanbek Makhmudov. Afterwards, he was genuinely disappointed.
Allen has boxed — and been beaten by — big names before but has started to understand what it takes to beat them and, more importantly, he has begun to believe that he can do it. He has thought long and hard about the 10 rounds he shared with Makhmudov and is confident that he has qualities of his own that will help him be effective against the heavyweight division’s leading lights.
“Yeah, I think I can definitely can compete at that level,” he said.
“I know he's probably a bit below Hrgovic but I can compete at that level at 50%. I'm never going to be 100% but I'm strong. I’m one of the strongest heavyweights in the world. Physical strength, toughness, cleverness. I’m not the fastest, I'm not the biggest puncher in the world but I'm clever, tough and I can look after myself.”
As always, Allen’s conditioning and preparation will be a major factor in how he fares against Hrgovic.
He believed that he was in good shape for the fight with Makhmudov but left the ring knowing that he needs to take things up another couple of notches if he is to give himself a chance of not only surviving but thriving in world class.
Fighting somebody as dangerous as Hrgovic at his hometown’s football stadium seems to have done the trick. He got straight back into the gym after a first round knockout of Karim Berredjem in February and knows that if he is to ever make an impact against one of the sport’s biggest names, he will never have a better opportunity than this weekend.
“Me and J [Jamie Moore, his trainer] had been talking since the fight [with Berredjem],” Allen said.
“He said, 'If you're going to actually do this, just get in shape one time. Just get fit one time.' They said to me, 'We know how good you are. You can beat anybody in the world' and they genuinely believe that.”
“It's pretty much like a world title eliminator, because if he wins he'll get a world title fight but if I win with the crowd I bring, there's no reason why I couldn't either, so it's a massive fight.”
