David Allen Will Now Face Scott Saward on Joshua-Takam

By Elliot Foster

David Allen will still fight this weekend.

There had been some confusion as to whether the Conisbrough heavyweight would remain on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s IBF, WBA Super and IBO title defence against Carlos Takam on Saturday.

But it has now been confirmed that the 25-year-old will fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office, after all.

Allen (12-3-1, 9 KOs) had struggled this week with the uncertainty of his fight after it was revealed that Lenroy Thomas had withdrawn from their rematch for the Commonwealth heavyweight title.

However, promoter Eddie Hearn has rescheduled that fight for December 17 at the O2 Arena in London, also on Sky Sports Box Office, on the undercard of Tony Bellew’s heavyweight grudge rematch against David Haye, meaning that ‘The White Rhino’ will fight a lesser foe on October 28.

Scott Saward (3-0), from Erith in Kent, has been brought in to face Allen on the Joshua-Takam card –– and Allen must overcome the 24-year-old if he is to fight Thomas again.

“It's been quite tough, the last week to be honest,” Allen told Sky Sports. “We're just on our way down to Cardiff now and I've just got to be professional. I've got to win on Saturday and roll onto Bellew-Haye II.

“I think you can expect to see a very big man flat on his back. It's always nice to see a very big man get knocked out. I'm looking forward to it.

“I'm only a moderately sized man compared to him, so it will be nice to see a massive guy get chopped down on Saturday.”

Their clash, on the Joshua vs. Takam card, is flanked by a number of good fights as Kal Yafai makes a mandatory defence of his WBA super-flyweight world title against undefeated Sho Ishida from Japan.

Katie Taylor challenges for the WBA female lightweight title against Anahi Esther Sanchez, Frank Buglioni defends his British light-heavyweight crown against late replacement opponent Craig Richards and Dillian Whyte clashes with Robert Helenius with the vacant WBC Silver title at stake.

Meanwhile, there is action for Lawrence Okolie and Joshua Buatsi, with Joe Cordina set to step up to the 10-round distance.

Watch Anthony Joshua vs. Carlos Takam live on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday from 6pm. Book via your Sky remote or online at http://skysports.com/joshua.