Dave Allen explains why he is not fighting Sean Turner on Joshua undercard

Dave Allen [12(9)-3(1)-1] has come out and explained why he turned down a short-notice scrap with Sean Turner on the massive Anthony Joshua undercard in Cardiff this weekend.

Dublin heavyweight Turner [11(7)-1(0)] was led to believe during the week that he had secured a high-profile fight with the popular English heavyweight on the Joshua-Takam undercard, live on Sky Box Office, at the Principality Stadium.

‘Big Sexy’ however learnt soonafter that the fight would not take place – and he would accuse Allen of wanting to take an easier fight.

‘The White Rhino’ was due to box Jamaican Lenroy Thomas in a rematch for the Commonwealth title, but the Caribbean boxer pulled out and the fight has been refixed for the Bellew-Haye 2 card in London on Sunday December 17th.

Remaining on the card this weekend, Allen has been bumped down to a six rounder – and this less prestigious fight slot is his reasoning for taking a fight with novice Scott Saward [3(0)-0] over Turner.

Outlining the series of events since the withdrawal of Thomas, Allen told IFL TV today that “first I knew was Tuesday morning. We got straight onto Dorian Darch who accepted the fight and then turned the fight down, Dave Jones the same, I don’t blame them with three or four days notice.”

“Two fighters accepted it, Sean Turner I think accepted it and then I think Tom Little accepted it or was maybe offered it.”

“We had a few options, my manager I think was given twelve names altogether.”

Allen explained that he would prefer to fight Turner in a higher-profile fight, and feels there may have been a breakdown in communications between the two teams.

“They’re not six round fights for me, I don’t want to fight them over six rounds,” said Allen.

“I think Sean Turner thought it was all confirmed and done on Tuesday afternoon – but I didn’t even know about Sean Turner on Tuesday afternoon.”

“They offered a lot of people the fight, for them to say yes or no, and then were to come back to me with a list of names that said yes, know what I mean?

“I don’t want people to think it’s ‘oh, I’m not fighting him’ or whatever. The buck doesn’t stop with me, it stops with [manager] Mick Marsden.”

Watch Dave Allen’s interview with IFL TV below:

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)