The Stomping Ground<\/a> about the matchup, his chances to win, and what he calls his \u201cpainful realism\u201d when it comes to approaching any tough fight.<\/p>\nAllen says he\u2019s enjoying boxing more than ever nowadays, in part because he doesn\u2019t feel the pressure that he needs to be doing it. He also admitted he\u2019ll be \u201cshitting himself\u201d on Saturday, but not because he\u2019s scared of his opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not (being scared). I wasn\u2019t scared of Makhmudov, either, to be honest,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not scared of them. You can\u2019t be scared of them, because they\u2019re good men, you know? They\u2019re nice men. I\u2019m a nice man.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m scared of losing in front of 10,000 people. Not \u2018scared,\u2019 but nobody wants weeks and weeks of shit on the internet about how shit I am, you know? So I\u2019m scared of Filip Hrgovic\u2019s ability to beat me in a boxing match. I\u2019m scared of his jab, I\u2019m scared of his movements. He\u2019s a cracking fighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not scared of him \u2014 he\u2019s a nice guy. We\u2019ve just fucking got families to provide for, we\u2019re not fighting to the death like back in the fucking day. We\u2019re having a boxing match. He\u2019s done me a world of good, and I\u2019m doing him a world of good. We\u2019re both getting paid a fortune to box each other. I\u2019ve got no hard feeling for him at all, he seems like a nice guy. Bit weird, like, but what a nice guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m never scared, but Saturday, I\u2019ll be terrified because I\u2019ve got to walk out in front of 10,000 people and got all that expectation. No one thinks I\u2019m gonna win but you still want to send people home happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna have a right go at him\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen (25-8-2, 20 KO) is his usual honest, realistic self ahead of this fight, but gives no impression of giving anything but his best effort. He simply knows that beating Filip Hrgovic is a big task.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I think I\u2019m gonna beat Filip Hrgovic? I\u2019m gonna have a right go at him. I\u2019ve got the ability to make him look a bit daft, make him miss, make him work hard,\u201d he said. \u201cCan I get over the line? It\u2019s gonna be a fucking big job. People keep saying, \u2018Let your hands go.\u2019 You fucking go let your hands go with him. You go and box Filip Hrgovic and let your hands go without getting fucking flattened.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very, very good at what I do. \u2026 70 years ago, I would be a journeyman. I\u2019d be a world class journeyman, and that\u2019s what I am now.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Dave Allen<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a reason I\u2019ve never been flattened, and it\u2019s not because I\u2019ve got a good chin, it\u2019s not because I\u2019m tough. I\u2019ve got a decent chin, I\u2019ve got about as good a chin as anyone else, but if you get hit on the chin, you go over. And people think I\u2019m tough, I ain\u2019t that tough. Fucking hell. I\u2019m not tough at all. I don\u2019t want to fight anybody, really, I want to go home and eat chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen broke down his chances a bit more, saying that he believes the chance to win is there, but it will be hard work to make it happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very, very good at what I do. That\u2019s being tricky, it\u2019s being hard to hit properly,\u201d he said. \u201c70 years ago, I would be a journeyman. You know, one of them really good ones. I\u2019d be a world class journeyman, and that\u2019s what I am now. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m gonna do Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna pick and poke at him, I\u2019m gonna push him back, make him work at a faster pace than normal, because I am fitter and lighter. If he fucking starts to breathe heavy after five or six and I hit him, I\u2019ll win. If I don\u2019t, I\u2019ll probably lose on points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the score. I didn\u2019t pick Filip Hrgovic, I didn\u2019t shout and scream for it. I\u2019m not telling him I\u2019m going to out-box him, or I\u2019m going to knock him out. I\u2019m going to do what I always do. I don\u2019t bullshit anybody. People love coming to watch me, I\u2019m very grateful for it, but I\u2019m not Arturo Gatti, am I? Fucking hell. I\u2019m quite boring to watch, really. But when I hit them, they stay fucking hit. But the good ones are hard to hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople go, \u2018Look at Dave Allen, he\u2019s so negative, he don\u2019t think he\u2019s gonna win.\u2019 It\u2019s gonna be hard work. Of course it is. What am I gonna do? Sit here, like, \u2018I\u2019m gonna win!\u2019 and look a fucking prick on Sunday when I get hammered? I\u2019m gonna tell the truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t ask for this fight, they\u2019re paying me a fucking fortune, of course I\u2019m having it. I boxed Luis Ortiz and took home nine grand. You think I\u2019m not going to box Filip Hrgovic for a lot more? I don\u2019t give a fuck. I\u2019ll fucking have a go at him and do my thing. If I win, I win. If I don\u2019t, who gives a fuck?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never be as good as I will be on Saturday\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen does say that he feels \u201camazing,\u201d and that despite any chatter, he has no intention of retiring from boxing no matter what happens on Saturday, when he feels we\u2019ll see the best version of him there\u2019s ever been and likely ever will be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to retire regardless,\u201d he said. \u201cWin, lose, or draw. But I will never be as good as I will be on Saturday. Whether I win, whether I get knocked out in the first round, this is the best I\u2019ve been. I\u2019ve been training really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAm I good enough, do I have enough talent, do I have enough ability? Am I big enough, do I hit hard enough? I do not know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Allen will take to the ring on Saturday, May 16, to face Filip Hrgovic in what really…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,1920,85],"class_list":["post-672890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}