Veteran boxing figure Steve Tannenbaum believes Dave Allen was denied the opportunity to turn his fight with Filip Hrgovic around and says the towel came in far too early.
Hrgovic controlled the opening three rounds in Doncaster, forcing Allen backwards behind a sharp jab and heavy combinations before the contest was halted.
However, Tannenbaum insists the stoppage has been widely misread and argues Allen was nowhere near the point where the fight needed to be stopped.
“The truth be told, Dave Allen was not hurt,” Tannenbaum exclusively told World Boxing News.
“Even the referee who was right on top of the fighters felt he was okay and was not anywhere near thinking of stopping it.
“Allen’s corner panicked and should not have thrown in the towel as Allen was not buckled, not rocked, not stunned.
“You could see Allen’s immediate reaction when they stopped it. He was surprised.
“Most of the right hands thrown by Hrgovic when Allen was in the corner were hitting him on the back of the head.”
Dave Allen Needed a Talking To, Not a Towel
Tannenbaum pointed to Allen’s long-standing relationship with trainer Jamie Moore as one reason the heavyweight did not publicly criticize the decision.
“He obviously has a very close relationship with Jamie Moore, which is why he didn’t criticize Moore for stopping it.”
While acknowledging Hrgovic was winning the fight, Tannenbaum believes Allen was beginning to close the distance and may have become more dangerous as the contest progressed.
“Nothing Hrgovic did was a real surprise as he’s very good early in a fight, but Allen was starting to get a little closer to him.
“What would have happened if Allen went to work in the second half of the fight?
“Allen doesn’t punch straight or fast with his right hand like my old friend Jerry Quarry, but his looping right hand is very heavy and if he got closer he could have hurt Hrgovic.
“Unfortunately Allen never was given the opportunity to get himself untracked.
“It’s to be applauded to want to protect your fighter from harm, but some corner men are naturally safety-first and in this case I believe they jumped the gun and cost Allen a big opportunity.”
The Referee Wasn’t Stopping It
Tannenbaum also pointed to events after the fight as further evidence the stoppage came too soon.
As Carl Froch later revealed, referee Steve Gray said he was not considering stopping the contest despite having the closest view in the arena.
Allen, who later pointed out that he has never touched the canvas despite years of punishment against top heavyweights, has since been scheduled to return on June 20 and again on July 25.
“Now Allen is going again on June 20 only five weeks later and then July 25. So much for him being hurt.
“Of course Moore might say if it wasn’t for him he wouldn’t be healthy enough to return so soon. Poppycock!”
The Old-School Approach
To illustrate his point, Tannenbaum recalled a story involving one of his boxing mentors, renowned cornerman and cutman Al Braverman.
“One of my mentors in boxing was Al Braverman, who wore many hats in the business but is considered by those in the know to be perhaps the best cornerman and cutman around.
“He’s stitched up and saved Chuck Wepner, boxing’s greatest bleeder, countless times during his career.
“But the most memorable moment to me was when he grabbed his fighter, number one middleweight contender Mustafa Hamsho, by the hair and dragged him to the corner at the end of the ninth round of a ten-round fight.
“Braverman gave him a good smack in the face along with a vicious scolding and woke the fighter up. Hamsho went out and won the final round and the fight.”
Tannenbaum believes Braverman would never have stopped Allen after only three rounds.
“Braverman would never have thrown in the towel and pulled Allen out in the third.
“Allen needed a good talking to in the corner as he was showing little zest in the fight.
“In all truth, even among his best wins over Lucas Browne, Johnny Fisher and Dorian Darch, Allen did little in those first few rounds until he caught up with them.”
‘Amateur Night in Dixie’
Tannenbaum finished with a typically colorful assessment of the decision.
“I was very close to Al Braverman, who also did comedy writing and had a wicked sense of humor.
“His exact words for the actions of Dave Allen’s corner would have been: ‘It was amateur night in Dixie.’”
About the Author
Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a veteran boxing reporter with 15+ years of experience. He has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside since 2010. His work is distributed across major platforms, including Apple News. Read full bio.
