BRITISH heavyweight Dave Allen will finally get his wish of fighting in his hometown stadium.
Allen will square off with dangerous heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic at Doncaster’s Eco Power Stadium.
The fight will go down on May 16 after the League One season has concluded.
The League One side has a capacity of 15,231, a number that can be extended a little with seating on the pitch.
Allen, in the 14th year of his professional career, has been talking about what his final fight might look like for a while.
He officially retired from boxing in November 2020 at age 28, citing a desire to avoid further head injuries and to secure a ‘healthy, quiet life’, finishing with an 18-5-2 record at the time.
He has had 11 fights since that retirement and even stated last October he ‘can’t f***ing wait to retire,’ properly.
Allen will have to be at his best to make sure Hrgovic doesn’t jettison him to retirement in front of his hometown crowd.
The Croat’s only loss came against Daniel Dubois and he has victories over Joe Joyce, David Adeleye and Zhieli Zhang to his name en route to 19 wins, 14 by knockout.
Allen has extended his Matchroom contract to take the fight, but the show will be co-promoted by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions and streamed live on DAZN.
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
The Home of Boxing in 2026
There’s a massive year of boxing ahead!
It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster year of action inside the boxing ring.
Tyson Fury will make his return in April against Arslanbek Makhmudov while Oleksandr Usyk takes on the king of kickboxing Rico Verhoeven.
Conor Benn features for the first time since making the switch to Zuffa Boxing and Fabio Wardley will defend his newly won heavyweight crown.
Canelo Alvarez will be hoping to return after his defeat to Terence Crawford and heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk will also defend his straps.
Derek Chisora will fight for the 50th and (perhaps) final time against Deontay Wilder while Daniel Dubois is also on the comeback trail.
A whole bunch of British stars could also take a leap into superstardom, with the likes of Moses Itauma, Hamzah Sheeraz and Adam Azim ready to join the very top of the sport.
Here’s all the big fights coming up…
March
- Sat 28 – Moses Itauma vs Jermaine Franklin – DAZN
- Sat 28 – Sebastian Fundora vs Keith Thurman – Amazon Prime PPV
April
- Sat 4 – Deontay Wilder vs Derek Chisora – DAZN PPV
- Sun 5 – Caroline Dubois vs Terri Harper – Sky Sports
- Sat 11 – Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov – Netflix
- Sat 11 – Conor Benn vs Regis Prograis – Netflix
- Sat 18 – Callum Smith vs David Morrell – DAZN
- Sat 18 – Manny Pacquiao vs Ruslan Provodnikov
- Sat 25 – Lawrence Okolie vs Tony Yoka – DAZN
May
- Sat 2 – Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani – Undisputed super-bantamweight title – TBC
- Sat 2 – Zurdo Ramirez vs David Benavidez – WBA & WBO Cruiserweight titles – Prime Video
- Sat 9 – Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois – WBO title – DAZN
- Sat 23 – Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven – WBC title – DAZN
June
- Sat 6 – Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello – WBC super lightweight title – DAZN
*If you click a link in this boxout, we will earn affiliate revenue.
Allen said: “This is everything I’ve wanted.
“A big fight, at home, in front of my own people. Nights like this don’t come around often, and I’m not letting it pass me by.
“I know how tough Hrgovic is, but I believe in myself and I’ll be ready to give Doncaster a night to remember.”
Allen fought Tyson Fury’s next opponent Arslanbek Makhmudov last October, losing the contest on points.
But he made a winning comeback last month against Karim Berredjem to extend his record to 25-8-2 and set up the date with Hrgovic in Doncaster.
