Doncaster heavyweight Dave Allen is heading for a sell-out crowd when he faces Arslanbek Makhmudov on October 11.
They will fight at the Sheffield Arena on a Matchroom show, with the 24-7-2 (19 KOs) Allen coming off a fifth-round stoppage of Johnny Fisher.
Makhmudov has lost two of his last four, having been stopped by both Agit Kabayel and Guido Vianello.
“Dave Allen’s a remarkable story, where he couldn't sell a ticket,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “I mean, Dave Allen used to fart on our shows. He would sell 50 tickets. And then all of a sudden, and a lot of it off his own doing, people just start to understand the personality and buy into the storyline.
“Obviously, the first fight against Johnny Fisher was big for his profile. The second fight was massive. We’re going to sell 8,000 in Sheffield; 8,000 to watch Dave Allen headline in Sheffield. I mean, it’s a great fight, but it’s going to be unbelievable. [For] other fighters, the build starts much earlier [in their careers].
“A good example might be [heavyweight hopeful] Leo Atang. He’s 18. He took 200-odd fans to Newcastle from York. Adam Maca sold 120 tickets from Brighton to go to Newcastle. So, you start to build, and then when you take them home, like Leo will fight in Sheffield on the Dave Allen card, he’ll do 600, 700.”
Allen’s stablemate, Pat Brown, is making swift progress too, both as a ticket-seller outside the ring and a force to be reckoned with inside it. Once he’s collected a title or two at cruiserweight the plan is for him to move up.
“This Pat Brown is a serious fighter,” Hearn said. “He’s got a massive fanbase in Manchester, and he’s only one or two fights away now from probably fighting for a British title. I want him to fight Aloys [Junior]. I think it’s an unbelievable fight.
“There’s a lot of very good, young heavyweights that people are getting very excited about. Pat Brown sparred all of them, and they will know what happened in those spars and Pat Brown will move to heavyweight.
“He’ll win championships at cruiserweight, but he will also go to heavyweight as well, and he can seriously fight. Pat can punch like fuck, and he’s a vicious fucker.”
Brown is 4-0 (4 KOs) and proved too much for Auston Nnamdi, stopping him in two rounds last weekend in Belfast.
Brown and Allen are both being trained by Jamie Moore, the Salford southpaw who was a former European champion at junior middleweight.
