Dave Allen could have been clocking in for a very different homecoming gig this weekend.
The heavyweight cult hero returns to the ring tonight when he takes on Filip Hrgovic at Doncaster’s Eco-Power stadium. Allen, 34, hopes to walk out in front of up to 10,000 local fans for the toughest fight of his career. But he could have been playing to a much younger audience at the home of Doncaster Rovers.
“I applied for a job there,” he said. “I went to talk to a fellow called Karl who works for the rugby team. “It was a job working with kids. I had done a bit of that before when I was a supply teacher and a teaching assistant. I had just retired so I would have been 28. I went down for the morning to watch what they did and I left thinking I was going to have to get back to boxing. It wasn’t really my thing to be honest, so that’s what gave me the kick up the backside to go back to boxing.”
Allen has become one the most popular boxers in the country despite a patchy record. He has fallen short at the highest level and been badly beaten up by David Price and Frazer Clarke. He has won one fight of note in the last seven years – his rematch knockout of Johnny Fisher.
And while victory over Hrgovic would be a stunning upset – it wouldn’t be the first time Allen has tasted glory in his hometown. “When I was at school, the Doncaster Athletics Championship was at the running track next to the stadium,” he added. “I used to win them pretty much every year; I did the 200m in 23.6 seconds but I also did long jump, shot put and relay. I was a superstar track and field athlete back in the day; no-one every believes me but it’s true.
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“My dad wanted me to be a runner. I did cross country at nine years of age and broke a six-minute mile. I was a very high-level runner but I didn’t enjoy running, there was too much pressure. I used to cry all the time at the start line; I was a nervous wreck and I couldn’t handle the pressure. It was much worse than boxing.
“I’ve had some good times here and had some hard times here, but Doncaster is where I’m from. It gets a lot of stick but it’s my home. I’ve been to the stadium plenty of times but I’ll be very proud to walk out there. Many times in my life I never really expected to do anything, never mind headline probably the biggest sporting event in my home city.”