Dave Allen certainly isn’t someone who has always done things by the book. The boxer is set to face Arslanbek Makhmudov in Sheffield this weekend, but his history is chequered to say the least.
To the point that in the build-up to his upcoming bout, Allen has opened up about an incident where he once punched a sheep because it was “giving him grief”. Yes… a sheep. As in the fluffy white livestock found roaming the countryside hills.
Recalling the incident, he explained: “I was on a school trip and the sheep was giving me a bit of grief. I just wanted to get by and I may have dropped a right hand on it. The sheep took it really well to be fair, she was pretty tough.”
Allen moved on from scuffles with wild animals and focused his energy on fights in the ring instead. But his journey hasn’t been simple, with Allen revealing he once had to turn to teaching as a way to pay the bills.
He continued: “I didn’t box for 15 months due to a contract dispute. It was a hard time, there was no money coming in and my girlfriend said I needed a job and applied for everything for me – she may have lied on my CV.
“I went for the interview and a week later I got a call asking me to be at a certain high school at a certain time. I looked at my girlfriend and said, ‘Do I have to go?’ and she said, ‘Yeah, you’re going’. Later that week I was given a sheet of paper with the lessons on it and told the work would be in the classroom and that I was to set it out.”
Allen admitted to being “scared” of his upcoming opponent Makhmudov. It’s easy to see why, given the towering Russian gives the impression of a James Bond villain as opposed to a boxer.
On the decision to face off against the 6ft5in machine, he told talkSPORT: “Sometimes I have some crazy ideas. For example, with the bear, my friends gave me the idea, and it was new for me [so I did it]. For me, it was interesting. All my life, from when I was a kid, I was challenging myself all the time.
“For example, if somebody told me, ‘Don’t touch the electricity, because it can kill you,’ I would go and touch it. If someone says I cannot do it, I have to do it.”