Still Chasing The Dream

Despite the punishing loss to David Price, there is optimism in the voice of Dave Allen who talks to Declan Taylor in detail about that defeat, its implications and his plans for the future.

- Declan Taylor

IT IS now over two months since Dave Allen was left battered, bruised and hospital-bound by David Price at the O2 Arena. Despite suggesting that his career might have ended that night in London, the Conisbrough heavyweight tells Boxing News why he is ready to dedicate two more years of his remarkable life to the sport.

The dust has settled - how do you reflect on the Price defeat?

Every fighter that wins or loses, in their training camp things don’t go right or whatever else. My camp wasn’t perfect and I could sit here and make 1,001 excuses about what went wrong and why I didn’t perform but the top and bottom of it was, I believe David Price was the better man on the night. He came, he turned up the best he’s ever been and he was the better man. I don’t want to make excuses because I’d lost four times before that, this is five, and I’ll probably lose another 10 times. Not bothered.

How did this defeat feel compared to your others?

I was already signed to sight Alexander Povetkin. It was already a done deal. I wasn’t looking past Price at all, but it was a case of – a year ago I’d just agreed to fight Nick Webb and now I had signed to fight Povetkin. So to answer your question, the hardest thing is realising I’ve thrown away nearly half-a-million pounds because I’m not fighting Povetkin and that hurts a little bit. However, David Price is a gent and I have all the respect in the world for him. The fact I lost to him, genuinely, took the edge off it.

But you said in the aftermath that you might be done. For how long did you consider retirement?