The latest bit of career momentum for Dave Allen has come to a halt, as the popular but inconsistent British heavyweight was beaten by unanimous decision today by Arslanbek Makhmudov in Sheffield, England.
Makhmudov (21-2, 19 KO) won on scores of 115-111, 116-110, and 117-109 in the DAZN-streamed main event.
Allen (24-8-2, 19 KO) wasn’t thoroughly dominated the way he was by David Price in 2019 or Frazer Clarke in 2023, but he never really got a foothold on the fight. Allen’s attempts to wear Makhmudov down just didn’t fully pan out, in part because Makhmudov was able to wear Allen down, too, some of it from the heavy 1-2 punches he kept throwing at his opponent, and a good bit from a lot of holding.
Makhmudov was docked two points for holding, in fact, and both were earned, this was not home cooking from an official. In reality, Makhmudov could have been penalized further than that, but it would not have made a difference on the cards even if he’d had five more points taken — he still would have won, albeit by split decision that way.
Allen actually seemed to do more notable damage when he did let his hands go, and had the more impressive single moments, but his round-to-round effort was lacking along with just plain losing some rounds, he gave others away for a strategy that didn’t work, which, tactically speaking, Makhmudov’s holding countered better than the Russian’s predictable, ponderous offense did.
Anthony Joshua could next await Makhmudov, 36, as Joshua is looking for an opponent in 2026, and one against whom he can bounce back with a win more impressive in the lead-in hype than in reality, and the scary-looking but extremely limited Makhmudov fits that bill, especially coming off of an attention-grabbing win in England over a fan favorite. It’s a boxing promotional tactic that has been used time and time again, and other than Makhmudov being able to club Joshua with an early power shot — which he doesn’t land all that well against more credible opposition — you’d have to consider Joshua a heavy favorite, even past his best days and coming in off of a lengthy layoff.
