7 March 2025
Picture By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
| Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport Chairman: “What a fight we have for you on May 17. We remember the night in Riyadh in December, a fight that would have lit up The O2, lit up the Copper Box, and it lit up Riyadh as these two fighters produced a brilliant Heavyweight battle. “A points victory for Johnny Fisher, some say controversial, some say not, it’s now irrelevant as we run it back on May 17 at the Copper Bosh and around the world live on DAZN. “This fight is going to sell out very quickly, a very important Heavyweight tussle between the Romford Bull and Dave Allen. The Inquest as we’re calling it, as we discuss what happened, who really won, what does everyone think, but what matters is ten weeks this Saturday they run it back in a big fight for both their careers.” Johnny Fisher: “I was nicey-nice in the build-up to the first one and I’m always going to be respectful, I’m always going to be a sportsman, but I can’t be lulled into that this time, I was a little bit last time. At the end of the day, it’s two men going in there to render the other one unconscious, so I have to be fully switched on. Was I at that 110 per cent mark that I have been for my previous fights, subconsciously probably not and I paid the price in yes, I won the fight, but it was closer than I wanted to be and it won’t be that way this time. “That’s the nature of the sport and of human beings, if you buy a nice new car people say ‘oh look at that flash boy, he’s got a new car’, if you get a new dog people have a go at you, if you put a deposit on a house o people have a go at you fog that. Whatever you do in life, if you start making your way people will try to discredit you. I have no argument or issue it’s people that scored it closely or gave it to Dave, because that’s their opinion. But when things go hysterical, that’s when you can’t pay any attention, and the only people I need to pay attention to are my trainer Jimmy Tibbs, Sonny Cannon and my Mum and Dad because they know me better than anyone else. “Every night since the fight I’ve gone to bed thinking about it. I didn’t make a rash decision to take the rematch, I thought about it, I let it stew, let it fester, let it breathe, I spoke to everyone and it was when I spoke to my Dad over dinner and said I can’t be a real man if I don’t run this fight back, because I know I can’t do it a lot better and I know I can do a better job of it. We’ve got to give the people what they want as professional Heavyweight boxers, people want to see bloodthirsty fights like that, and I’m ready to do it all again as that’s what I’m trained to do and that’s what I was born to do. “In that situation I was in, I was on wobbly legs, my balance was gone from the second or third round with the shot on my ear that I’ve never really had before, and I know that if I had someone in that position they would be gone in 30 seconds. So if you can’t get me out of there when I am like that, there’s going to be absolutely no chance when I am firing on all cylinders in ten weeks time. “I had no base in that fight from the knockdown and I just fought on instinct. I won the rest of the round in the fifth after it, and as Dave said we were both shattered after that round and it wasn’t a million-to-one there because I got to to the final bell, and it will be a completely different story this time because I can fight and I can box, and I am going to marry both of them up and do both at the same time. “Being in Saudi Arabia, the hospitality was great, we had a great experience and to be on such an iconic card, but there is nothing like fighting in front of the British boxing public. The Romford Bull Army is unique as well, people come from all over the country and Europe, and it will be rocking in there. I can say it won’t have an effect on me, and it won’t, but it lifts me. I’ve had it since my fourth fight at Ally Pally and The O2, and it does give me another semblance of strength when I have that army behind me. East London is our spiritual home, where my Dad’s roots are and our family came from, it feels like home. “Winning in life is the one thing that maters. The knockout is what I’ll be looking for and if it’s there I’ll try and take it, but there’s one difference in this fight, I’m willing to leave it all in the ring and get flattened on the floor, we’ve seen before that Dave is willing to go back to the corner and quit. I’m willing to leave every ounce of my body and soul in that ring.” Mark Tibbs: “Jamie has said it all really. What Johnny went through in that first fight with Dave, everything clicked from that moment. We’ve been in the gym a few times since and we’re off to Las Vegas tomorrow to prepare for this fight, and Johnny will have learned a hell of a lot from the fight, he didn’t do a lot wrong, he got dragged into one or two old man tricks so to speak, I thought the referee was a bit lenient with Dave, but I was happy with Johnny’s performance, I’ve watched the fight, we won the fight and we officially won the fight, but there’s split opinions and we do it again. “Will he drag us in again? We’ll see. We don’t need to talk about tactics, but it’s more about Johnny realizing a few things. There’s a couple of tweaks that both sides will make so like Jamie said, it’ll be a better fight. “Listen, 100 per cent (we win), I live and breathe boxing because I’m a winner. I wasn’t happy with winning like we won, so we will draw the line under Dave Allen-Johnny Fisher II. “I’m very confident Johnny is going to do a vicious, spiteful job in breaking Dave down. There’s only one man that’s going to get off-n balance, and that’s Dave Allen. “Dave Allen: “I’m surprised to be headlining a show again in London, I was surprised when I did the first one. This is probably more shocking to be honest, but I’m glad to be here, grateful to be here, thanks to Johnny first of all for giving me the opportunity for the Saudi fight that I took with both hands and we’re back again. I told him after the first fight that we probably wouldn’t do it again so soon, I don’t think four or five months is enough time to bridge the gap in beating my comfortably. I haven’t really had a proper fight for six years, and as soon as I got back in the gym again I felt great, I almost feel young again, ambitious, like a young kid but this time I’ve got a brain. I’m really excited for it and I fully expect to win. “My foot was down on the floor, it couldn’t go any further, I was knackered. There’s no excuses, I put him over in the fifth, I tried to finish it and probably tried too hard really. With my experience I should have given myself more room and I probably could have finished it. But you get excited in there, I was in Saudi Arabia about to knock this kid out and thought ‘let’s just get it done now’. So I have no regrets, he did amazingly well to tough it out and he saw the final bell. I thought I won the fight but he hung in there for ten rounds and gave himself the chance to get the decision which he got. I’m not going to get irritated by the decision because it’s out of my hands, I know I would get an opportunity Eddie because I know you look after me, regardless of Johnny or not. So we do it again, the first fight has been and gone and we will see what happens the second time. “I’ve tried to look at how I would price the fight up myself, I always look at things from the outside looking in. I’ve got a YouTube channel, so I always look at fights, and it’s like Tyson Fury-John McDermott a long time ago, everyone thought John one the first fight, Tyson came back and stopped him. Young kids take a lot from first fights and the improve past the old man in the second. I just don’t think I’m an old man yet, I probably look younger than Johnny as well, so I think I have loads left in the locker but I know it’s not going to be easy. Johnny and I could box ten times and they would be good fights, close fights, because I’m not a superstar, but I don’t think this fella is, at least not yet, and it will be another fight of the year candidate. “Atmosphere’s don’t bother me. I’ve been in this game a long time, I boxed Dillian Whyte in the Leeds arena and I did shit myself, but that was a new experience. I’ve boxed Whyte, Luis Ortiz, all the best, went to France to fight Tony Yoka and the French were mad, I couldn’t beleive it, I thought they would be quite. I realise the support will be heavily in Johnny’s favor, but I don’t care, it’s a boxing match and the best man will win. “I wouldn’t say I’m excited for camp! It’s hard work, I’ve got Nigel Travis for ten weeks, it’s not going to be fun. But with Jamie and Nigel, it’s changed things completely. I don’t wish I’d gone there earlier as it would be completely different, I’ve got my kids with me today and I wanted to bring them, but it’s different with them, I enjoy everything now so we’re going to train hard for ten weeks and I firmly believe I win the fight. “We’re evenly matched, it will be a hell of a fight, and it’s going to depend on how he takes it. If he comes to box I make him a 10/11 shot, if he comes to fight it’s 1,000,000/1! So we will see what happens. “It’s 72 days away, I’ve got to train hard, get out of bed on the right side that day, but I think I’m just the better fighter. I’ve been doing this a long time, National Amateur champion, sparring partner to all the World champions the last 10 to 15 years, boxed everybody, and I’ve got a bee in my bonnet because I’ve been fighting for a long time and I’ve been a laughing stock. I got to a point where I don’t like that. I will win the fight, one million per cent, “I’ll knock him out as well. It doesn’t come from a bad place, it’s just sport, I’m on a different level completely.” Jamie Moore: “It was a cracking fight and one where Dave proved a lot to himself, because in the past he’ll admit that he hasn’t committed himself 100 per cent to his camp but he did for that fight and the performance spoke for itself. I thought we were unlucky, I thought we deserved the win and it was quite an easy fight to score. It was a fight of two halves and the knockdown won it for us, but you can’t cry over spilt milk, we’re here again and it’s a cracking fight, you don’t really need to sell it because of the first fight, and it’s a fight between two great guys, the teams are great and may the best man win. “Dave came back to the corner after the fifth round and he had a look on his face that I’d never seen before. It was like the penny had dropped and that all the hard work that he’d put into camp had all come to fruition. He was probably 60 per cent in that camp because of the starting point that he came from, he’s near enough in the same physical shape in terms of fitness from when he finished as he had a couple of weeks off over Christmas and then he was straight back in the gym,m which is unheard of for Dave. So he’s got that love back for the sport, he’s loving training, and that’s means that by the time this fight comes around he’ll be in a much better position to perform than he has been in the past. But we know Johnny is going to be much better this time around as he’s not as experienced as Dave, so those experiences from the first fight are going to make him much better as well. So both guys are going to be better, and we’re going to get a better fight. “There are two sides to it and when people were asking me if I thought they were going to take it I was really unsure. I thought they might go straight back in as they are going to take lessons from it, but then they might want one in-between, but in Heavyweight boxing there are banana skins everywhere so that tick-over fight to get yourself back might pull away the rematch totally. So I’m glad they took it, it’s great for us, for them and for boxing fans as it was a good fight last time and it will be a better one this time. “Dave’s starting point for this fight is much better so it’s about planning it and making sure he doesn’t peak too early, getting him through and getting good sparring, and may the best man win. “I think he can win inside the distance this time. He proved he can hurt him, his engine will be better this time, so regardless of whether it’s by stoppage or on points, which before that fight I would have said Dave has to knock him out, but now I can see his engine is building so he can win it on points or by KO.” |
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