Dave Allen reveals the one thing he shouldn’t have done while sparring Anthony Joshua

EXCLUSIVE: Dave Allen has candidly opened up about his experience sparring Anthony Joshua.

‘The White Rhino’ returns to action on Saturday night in the biggest fight of his life against Filip Hrgovic inside the Eco-Power Stadium in Doncaster, UK.

Dave Allen says he shouldn’t have been in bad shape to spar Anthony Joshua

In his career, Dave Allen has cemented his status as one of the most lovable boxers to have ever laced up a pair of gloves. In addition to his charismatic personality, the warrior is renowned for his physical toughness, ‘with The Doncaster De La Hoya’ conceding he used to turn up out of shape and give Anthony Joshua free shots to hit him with in sparring.

During an exclusive interview with Sporf, he chuckled: “It was not my brightest moment. I used to spar him a lot, for three and a half years, two or three times a week. I sparred too much, really. Looking back, I should never have been sparring ten rounds at a time when I was bang out of shape. He was a good fighter, I learned a lot; like how to survive, get through rounds, at the expense of a lot of brain cells. It was good times.”

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Dave Allen says he’s better than ever ahead of Filip Hrgovic fight

While Allen confesses he wasn’t in tip-top condition for his rounds with ‘AJ’, he’s trained harder than ever for his clash with ‘El Animal’.

While the fan favourite knows the enormity of the task at hand, the boxer is adamant he’s given himself the best possible chance to upset the apple cart.

The 34-year-old explained: “I never picked Filip Hrgovic. People keep saying to me, ‘Why are you boxing Filip Hrgovic’? I don’t know, go and ask Frank Warren. I didn’t make the fight; I just got offered to do it. Why not? He’s ranked number four with the Ring Magazine, so it is a bit of a mad match on paper, but I’ve been in the gym for two years now consistently, and I’m starting to feel back to my old self. People can say, ‘But your old self was fat’, but I feel really good. This is the best version of me. I can’t promise anyone that I’m going to beat Filip Hrgovic, but I can tell you that I’m in the best position to give him a good fight. It’s a position I’ve never been in before. I’m light enough to do myself justice. I’m looking forward to it.”

Featured Image Credit: Getty/James Sweetnam