A REMATCH between Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen may not necessarily be next if Mark Tibbs has his way.
On December 21 in Riyadh Fisher’s trainer watched from the corner as his man was pushed to the limit by Dave Allen, 23-7-2 (18 KOs), during their heavyweight battle on the Usyk-Fury 2 undercard.
After 10 rounds of dramatic action Fisher escaped with a split decision win over the veteran to keep his unbeaten record, 13-0 (11 KOs), intact. Ringside observers and those watching on television, however, had Allen winning, with some describing the result as a “robbery”.
“Immediately after the fight I heard Jamie Moore (Allen’s trainer) saying it wasn’t a robbery so that always stuck in my head and I understand why he said that now,” Tibbs told Boxing News.
Tibbs had rewatched the fight the night before BN spoke to him and believes his man did enough to come away with the win.
“I felt much better about Johnny’s performance,” he said.
“Dave couldn’t capitalise on them old man tricks he presented Johnny with and I felt the right man won after watching it, I really do.”
In his first 12 fights, Fisher never looked like losing once, but the display against Allen showed the 25-year-old still has a lot of work to do before he can compete for major titles. Tibbs, however, is also looking at the positives from the gutsy win.
“The little counters was superb and the body shots from Fisher was wonderful, a little bit out of distance for me, a bit dangerous. He’s going to learn from that fight for sure.”
Such was the reaction to the result many have called for an immediate rematch between the two. Fisher’s promoter Eddie Hearn believes a second meeting could headline its own show in London.
“I’d like to see Johnny have a fight before he fights Dave again,” Tibbs commented.
“Johnny loves his boxing and he wants a long career. As his trainer I’d like him to have one more before he fights Dave.”
