Today on the big Usyk-Fury II card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, unbeaten British heavyweight Johnny Fisher came through the fight of his career in a ten round war with his friend and former sparring partner Dave Allen. It was pure slugging all the way through, the fight a FOTY contender. In the end, Fisher was somehow awarded the win via ten round split decision. Scores were 95-94, 95-94 for Fisher, and 96-93 for Allen.
Fisher, who survived a heavy knockdown in round five and was buzzed and wobbled on multiple occasions, is now 13-0(11). Allen, the older man by seven years at age 32, is now 23-7-2(18). But Allen absolutely has every right to say he was robbed tonight.
It was a great start from “Romford Bull” Fisher, his heavy hands landing in style, Fisher’s body work proving especially impressive. But the big difference in tonight’s fight/slugfest/bar room brawl, was the fact that Allen was able to soak up a hefty shot to the chin far better than Fisher was able to do.
We saw this in round five, when Allen, who had whipped himself into superb, perhaps career-best shape under trainer Jamie Moore, dropped Fisher. A wicked left hand hurt Fisher bad and he looked gone. Bundled over on very unsteady legs after getting up, Fisher was given some time to recover as Allen was warned by the referee for his rough stuff. There looked to be no way Fisher would survive the round, however.
But to his credit, Fisher managed to hang in there. From here on in until the final bell that looked at this point like one that would never be reached, the fight was nothing but an ‘I’ll-hit-you, you-hit-me’ slugfest. It was fantastic stuff, even if it was, as Sergio Mora said on air for DAZN, a fight that had nothing to do with boxing! This was just raw, non-stop slugging.
Many more times, Fisher was hurt, looking again to be on the way out. Yet the big, strong 25 year old would fire back when hurt, landing his own big shots. But to repeat, Allen was able to take them all without issue. It was truly incredible. Fisher, his nose bleeding, was running on empty but there was no quit in him. Allen found the time to showboat and to talk to Fisher.
Fisher would often bend at the waist when hurt, and Allen duly fired in his uppercut. Both men were still slinging out heavy shots at the end, looking for the KO. In the end, amazingly, the work of the three judges was in fact needed, and this is where the fight – a great, all-action fight – was spoiled some. There will be plenty of complaints about the decision going against “Doncaster De La Hoya” Allen, that’s for sure.
A rematch would be most welcome, but for now, Fisher must know deep down that he was given a break by two of the scoring officials tonight.
So far on tonight’s card, each fight has gone the distance. Will we see a KO in the main event?
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