Outside on the street a Mercedes G-Wagon had just mounted the sidewalk and jerked to a stop right on the ?No Parking? area. A police car dragged on by but the officers inside it weren?t concerned with illegal parking outside a newly opened boxing gym. Not today. The local Police Chief was inside in a scene that resembled a Mafia wedding. Mercedes, BMW?s, a Porsche, Range Rovers, sat in the shade on the busy street in one of the most deprived areas of Bolton. Not one of them was going to get so much as a ticket or a scratch. Poverty or a Badge breed many things, but outright stupidity isn?t one of them.
In the packed gym, boxing faces mingled?Tyson Fury, Hughie Fury, ?Kid Galahad,? Clinton Woods, a poorly Bill Ives (multimillionaire steel Baron, and former minder for the Kray Twins), Peter Fury, Eddie Chambers?plus The Mayor, a couple of footballers, and a coven of local businessmen whose business is not your business. Oh, and Dave Allen.
At the time, Dave was a semi-famous local heavyweight from Doncaster?a northern English town famous for the McDonnell brothers, a disbanded coal industry and, even thirty years later, the resulting deprivation that the loss of major employment brings to a community. He hadn?t made a mark yet, but you could see he was a good guy; a character; affable and quick-witted. He was a kind of on/off fighter: loved the sport, but had a fight or two then backed off, ate too much, regretted squandering his talent and started the cycle all over again.
I walked over and said hello. He was polite, but he was more interested in ribbing Eddie Chambers. I forgot about him until I saw he?d been matched to fight Dillian Whyte in the summer of 2016. ?Jesus,?….I thought, ?he?s too young to write off as shark chum.? Dave went the distance with Whyte then, five months later, at short notice, took Luis Ortiz to the seventh round of an eight-round prelude to, what was supposed to be, the keys to the Joshua Kingdom. Dave won many fans that night. Words like pluck, endurance, grit, toughness, were bandied around in the papers. A loser never won so much.
Then his career stalled. Dave couldn?t seize the initiative. With no real promotion, and a seemingly lax approach to training and to the seriousness of the sport, he kind of lost his way. His fan base grew, nevertheless. As I said, he?s likable. Funny. A solid head and intellect on those shoulders. He?d take ?banter? and return it on Twitter like an overhead right. No chance to duck.
It was an overhand right that felled the highly regarded Nick Webb last summer. Allen was put in as a kind of last chance saloon piano player who could maybe remember more than one tune if you pushed him. And to provide a durable foil to Webb?s rising star. Webb was KO?d. Brutally. Matchroom took the hint as the crowd went wild. Dave Allen was finally a winner in a fight that mattered. They signed him. He deserved it.
On/off blips, a crap performance against a fringe fighter, and personal set-backs came and went around Christmas time. I worried for Dave. It seemed to matter that he got better, for him, and for boxing. I figured that he was something that the heavyweight division was missing: a likable, intelligent, straight-talking, rogue, with more heart and fight than most of his peers?.despite the poor training record. Thinking about it, he?s been a goddamn miracle at times in the ring.
Last night was, I think, the final confirmation of his redemption. Dave Allen stopped Lucas Browne at the O2, London with a body blow that would have dropped anybody. Tough display, again; took shots, brawled, boxed, fought, out-muscled, ground his gum shield, and carried the whole crowd with him. He?s the least polarizing fighter in the division?EVERYONE loves Dave Allen.
And now, like he said before the Browne bout in an interview that may or may not have been the one where he goes off mid flow to rescue a woman trapped in a toilet (really?.if you?ve never seen a Dave Allen interview then you?ve missed a special collection), he?s three fights from Anthony Joshua. Imagine that.
BabeStation is on red alert. Doncaster bar owners are having palpitations. The bookies don?t know what?s real any more. But we do. We know we?re better off for having Dave Allen in our sport.
