Darren Barker’s guiding hand for Allen

Former middleweight champion Darren Barker may not be in David Allen’s corner this weekend but it will be his gameplan the White Rhino is implementing.
Dave Allen. Picture: Mark Robinson/Matchroom BoxingDave Allen. Picture: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Dave Allen. Picture: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

Allen has spent five weeks training with Barker in preparation for his clash with former world heavyweight champion Lucas Browne on Saturday night.

And he credits the camp will send him into the ring at the O2 a much better fighter.

"I needed a change,” Allen said. “I was in a bit of a rut.

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"I spoke with Darren last year and we became really good friends. I said to him let's get some work done together.

"It started out that is was going to be a couple of days but it turned into a five week long training camp.

"Mick [Marsden] will work the corner on fight night but for the last five weeks of the camp Darren has been the head trainer.

"He's former world champion and he's a decent fella so what more do you want.

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"I respect him as a fighter and I respect him as a man. I'll listen to him, what he says goes.

"I feel like I've improved as a fighter. We've put the work in and I feel like I'm in the best shape possible.”

Allen has not been the most committed fighter in relation to game plans before and admits his clash with Browne could easily descend into a slugfest.

He said: “I’m going to stick to the Darren gameplan for a little while. We’ll see how it goes.

“If it’s working, fantastic, I’ll stick to it.

“If not, I'm going to Homer Simpson him.

“Gameplan B is I’ll punch him in the face and let him punch me in the face and see who is the last man standing.

“I’ll take whatever.”

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