In just a matter of hours, David Allen will face Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic at Keepmoat Stadium in his hometown of Doncaster. Even though Allen enters the fight as a clear underdog, with his chances priced at 6.5 compared to 1.2 for Hrgovic, he says he fully believes he can win and feels no pressure fighting in front of his home crowd.
Just hours before he steps into the ring in Doncaster, David Allen says he feels unusually calm ahead of his fight with Filip Hrgovic. The British heavyweight, who has often spoken openly about nerves and self-doubt, believes being cast as the obvious underdog may actually work in his favor.
“I think as time has gone on I’ve become more nervous,” Allen said when discussing his emotions before the fight. “I don’t remember being this nervous at the start of my career... there were a couple of fights where I was nervous, but looking back, I don’t think I was a particularly nervous fighter. Nothing really bothered me, and as I’ve got older, I’d say my nerves have become worse than ever. It’s terrible. But before this fight I feel pretty calm. I think I’m one of those people who, when a lot is expected of me, can sometimes crack under the pressure, so for me it’s good that Filip Hrgovic is the clear favorite. I feel much better. When there aren’t many expectations on me to win, I feel a lot calmer.”
“In the first fight with Johnny Fisher I didn’t feel any pressure. In the fight with Makhmudov, I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders and, to be honest, I just fell apart.”
Allen’s most recent outing came in February, when he scored a first-round stoppage over Kareem Berradjem. Before that, he lost a decision to Arslanbek Makhmudov in October of last year.
“Throughout my whole career,” Allen added, “I haven’t really trained properly at all. When I fought Luis Ortiz, I hadn’t trained for about six months. Nothing bothered me, I just had that youthful enthusiasm for fighting. I used to love it. Now I’m a completely different person. I’ve become much calmer. When I was younger, I thought I was the toughest and strongest man in the world. But over time, after defeats, you start to think, ‘Oh, I’m not so sure about that anymore.’ I’m much calmer now compared to when I was younger, so the nerves come from expectations. It’s not that everyone thinks I’m the best, it’s that everyone wants me to win. Sometimes I can handle the nerves, sometimes I want it too much and that lets me down. But this weekend I don’t feel that. I feel like a clear underdog, and because of that I feel pretty good.”
“At the same time I really want to win. Even though I’ve lost eight times, I still want to win,” Allen added.
“I’ve been a winner all my life—until I started boxing at the top level. I always won at everything I did, and even after eight losses I still want to win. Every time I lose, I smile, shake hands, and congratulate the winner. But losing kills me. I’ve never really been a loser. The fear is only about winning and losing. That’s everything to me. Nothing else matters. Just winning and losing. I really want to win, not just for myself but for everyone. I’ve got a lot of support, and I just really want to win.”
“I’ve had a crazy career, to be honest,” Allen admitted. “I thought that when I turned pro I’d have a good career, that I’d become a good fighter. I turned professional after only 10 amateur fights, I was winning my club bouts, and everyone was telling me, ‘You’re going to be a really good fighter.’ Maybe I turned pro too early, but people were saying, ‘This lad is going to be something.’ In the end I never fulfilled my potential, but because of my character I achieved more than I probably should have. I feel like I failed to live up to expectations, but at the same time I exceeded them. It’s very strange. I don’t think my ability alone would ever have taken me to where I am now, but at the same time I don’t think I’ve ever shown anything truly top level.”
“I never wanted to box. It wasn’t my passion as a kid. I went to the boxing gym because I had nothing else to do. Where I come from, what else was I going to do? We had nothing. I had no qualifications. I wasn’t going anywhere. There were two options: get into trouble or go work in a warehouse on night shifts.”
Allen also admits his upcoming opponent is better than Makhmudov, who beat him by decision, and described landing a fight with Hrgovic as a “strange reward.”
“If he decides to play tag, throw punches, box and move, then honestly I don’t give myself much chance,” Allen said. “To be honest, I don’t think I’m going to enjoy Saturday. I’m going to hate Saturday. I’ll be scared out of my mind all day, and then I’ll have to fight some huge Croatian. There’s no way out of it, but I’m scared of it. That’s the honest truth. Honestly, I’m afraid, I’m afraid of walking into that ring. I’ll be shaking like a leaf all day. Then I’ll go out and fight, and there’s a very good chance it ends badly for me.”
