While all around him people did their best to sell the fight as something it was not, Dave Allen remained as grounded and honest as ever. He continued to believe that he had beaten Johnny Fisher when they met for the first time in December and he continued to state that the pair were, at best, British-title level. He even called Fisher an “okay boxer” but a “great athlete” during a face-off and said of his own abilities: “I’m a good athlete and a very good boxer.”
Though billed as such, it was not so much a face-off as a therapy session; Fisher charged by the hour as Allen revealed home truths. Together, in fact, they have made quite the double act, Allen and Fisher, and there is a clear mutual respect between them. Honesty, too. For it wasn’t just Allen who knew and expressed the extent of his limitations. Fisher also claimed that winning a British heavyweight title would be “more than enough” for him and accepted what Allen said as advice, which is what it was, as opposed to an attempt to wreck his confidence.
All in all, the pre-fight face-off was a strange thing to behold, especially when so many face-offs these days descend into name-calling and feature boxers deluding themselves and trying to come up with the most ridiculous things to say. In the case of Allen and Fisher, there was no such delusion. Nor did any of the over-the-top pre-fight hype come from either of them. Fisher, despite his popularity, has never said he will be anything more than what he is, and Allen, too, wasn’t selling this rematch as anything other than what it was. The only differences between the rematch and the first fight, as far as Allen was concerned, was one, the location changing from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to London, and two, the result, which Allen was confident would this time go his way.
Last time, of course, Allen dropped Fisher in round five and appeared to outwork him only to lose a split decision after 10 completed rounds. That result was enough to permit others to continue the Johnny Fisher hype, as well as preserve his unbeaten record, and it also guaranteed that there would be a rematch between the two in 2025. Some said Fisher should maybe swerve Allen, and take the win and run, but the way Fisher performed against Allen in December raised concerns about his potential and how he would fare against heavyweights better than Allen. In the end, it seemed wiser to match them again and give Fisher a sink-or-swim moment in front of his fans at home. Either he would swim, and prove that fight one was an aberration, or he would sink and prove Allen, the truth-teller, right.
As it turned out, Fisher received an almost lethal dose of Dave Allen’s honesty last night at the Copper Box, where Allen backed up his words with hard evidence. It came weeks after he had revealed to Fisher their respective limitations and now Allen was seemingly intent on reminding him of all he had said in the cruellest way possible. He tucked up, he walked Fisher down, and he chewed and spat out whatever Fisher nervously threw his way in the opening rounds. He then showed him everything he had already told him.
Even in the moments when Fisher looked in control, it was only ever an illusion of control – never the real thing. He landed his jab now and again, and he picked out some nice right uppercuts, yet there always remained a sense that Allen was simply measuring him, observing him, and waiting to deliver his lesson.
This lesson arrived in round five; a round even more pivotal in the rematch than it was in fight one. In this round Allen had started responding with spite to Fisher’s tentative attacks and he managed to rock the Londoner with a hard right hand, which had an impact on Fisher’s legs. Not unlike his breakthrough shot in their first fight, Allen now smelled blood and set about Fisher, only this time with an urgency and conviction lacking in December. Relentless, he caught Fisher with some additional shots and Fisher, unable to gather himself, eventually spiralled to the canvas, where he was counted by the referee, Marcus McDonnell.
Though he beat the count, Fisher didn’t seem sure whether he should, or could, nor was he steady on his feet when again upright. Allen, sensing this, immediately attacked with even greater urgency, knowing the round was about to end. He also attacked with genuine quality, mixing up his shots well to head and body, and the finishing salvo – two left hooks to the head, a right hook to the body, a left hook to the body, and a left hook to the head – was as good a finishing salvo as you will see in a British ring this year. It had the desired effect – that is, it switched off Fisher’s lights and sent him to the canvas once more – and it supported what Allen has always said about himself. When in the mood, and when fit, he can really fight. Moreover, when he is in the ring against a man he knows is a level or two beneath him, he is, as he said before the fight, a “very good boxer”.
“I’ve been written off so many times, but I knew I had ability,” Allen said in the ring after stopping Fisher. “At the right level – this level – I’m a handful.”
Some will argue, of course, that fights at this level should not be headlining televised events in the UK, at least not regularly, and that Allen vs Fisher should remain an outlier; something fun; something a bit different. It was certainly that. It was certainly different. In fact, much of the appeal of Allen vs Fisher, if there was any, was rooted in the fact that it was different and that they, the two boxers, were different from the rest. They were, as a duo, more likeable than the rest. They were also more relatable and believable than the rest.
As a result, the win, for Allen, resonated so much more when he secured it. He held the first belt he has ever won as a pro – a WBA intercontinental heavyweight belt – for photos he will doubtless cherish and then, when asked what the win meant to him, he told Matchroom’s Jamie Ward: “My kids are going to have an ensuite and their own bathroom between them. It’s the dream really.”
As for Johnny Fisher’s dream, that may well have died – at least for now. However, just as Dave Allen’s humility and ability to deal with the facts of life has helped the Doncaster heavyweight deal with the realities of his profession, so too will Fisher’s character help him put this first loss into perspective and either grow from it or heed its warning. Better yet, if Fisher is ever unsure about his future, or concerned about the rebuild, he now has a friend he can call upon for advice. A friend only too happy to help. A friend who has been there before.
“Johnny Fisher’s my friend,” said Allen, 24-7-2 (19). “He’s the nicest kid in the world. I said in the first press conference, ‘If my son is half the man Johnny Fisher is now, I’d be over the moon’. I mean that. I meant it all the way through. All the way through this I was respectful. He’s my mate.”
Dave Allen’s beating of Johnny Fisher last night was not done out of malice or any desire to expose or humiliate the unbeaten heavyweight in front of his own fans. Instead, it was an example of tough love. It was Allen’s chance to teach Fisher, 13-1 (11), everything he himself had been taught and to do it at a level at which Fisher was comfortable and to which he can return if that way inclined.
Allen, when taught the same lessons himself, was never afforded that same luxury. For him, there was no such thing as tough love. It was just tough.