It can be quite odd how the sport of boxing works at times. Rewind a year or so, and absolutely nobody would have dreamed of suggesting Deontay Wilder and Dave Allen could fight each other. But now, with Wilder set to return to action following a bad run that saw him lose to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, and with Allen on a real run of form with him having lost a controversial decision against Johnny Fisher and then flattening him in the rematch, we really could see Wilder and Allen get it on.
Speaking again with IFL TV, Eddie Hearn said that Allen called him up not too long after his impressive KO win over Fisher, asking for the Wilder fight. And as far as Hearn is concerned, it’s a case of “why not?”
Allen wants Wilder, and Hearn’s not laughing
Wilder has to win his June comeback fight against Tyrrel Herndon, but after that, assuming the former WBC heavyweight champ gets the win and looks good and feels good in doing so, who knows? Hearn might be able to entice Wilder to the UK with a big payday, and maybe Wilder could fight Allen this year.
“He phoned me up and he said, ‘I want the Deontay Wilder fight.’ Yeah, why not?” Hearn said. “Look, Deontay’s got this fight [with Herndon] coming up, which should be a formality, and then…….you know that Dave Allen against Deontay Wilder would do fantastic business in the UK. When you go through the top 10 names in British boxing right now; I’m talking about interest, viewership – across the board. You’ve got like, AJ, Fury, Dubois, Eubank, Conor [Benn], and then Dillian Whyte, Callum Smith, Josh Taylor, Jack Catterall, Leigh Wood, and you’d put Dave Allen right at the top of that group, wouldn’t you. We saw the numbers from the [Fisher] fight. People like the story.”
Will Wilder come to the UK and smash the feel-good storyline?
Agreed, Dave Allen is a current British fighter the fans both like and are interested in. But will Wilder want a piece of this particular action? Maybe so, and of course Wilder would feel he has the beating of Allen. Wilder has boxed in the UK once before, this against Audley Harrison back in 2013. Maybe “The Bronze Bomber” will make a return trip this year?
