LONDON – Eddie Hearn believes a trilogy between David Allen and Johnny Fisher will happen – just not next.
The 33-year-old Allen fought Fisher on Saturday night at London’s Copper Box Arena in a rematch after their controversial first encounter in December. They first collided in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when many observers believed that Allen had done enough to earn victory but watched Fisher awarded the win. Saturday’s rematch was then made, and Allen did not allow the judges to influence the outcome.
He used his experience to let the fresher Fisher have his moments early, but as the energy started to zap from the younger man – Fisher is 26 – Allen pounced on him. He brutally hurt Fisher with a left hand that left him lying down face first on the canvas. If the popular Fisher had been expected to learn from his first encounter and deal with Allen more convincingly, defeat forces the heavy-handed heavyweight to rebuild.
His promoter, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, has a two fight deal with Allen. Regardless of the reality that Allen may have won both fights, at 1-1 Hearn is considering a third contest to settle the score, and to rehabilitate the reputation of one of his most reliable ticket sellers.
“I can see the trilogy one day but not next,” the promoter said. “I'm pretty honest to the point where when you get a chance to run it back like we did, it's like, ‘Should we have taken the rematch?’. I still think the answer is ‘Yes’ because we won the first fight – it was very close – but if you're going to go to the levels that we hope [Fisher] will, you learn from the first fight and you beat Dave Allen in the rematch.
“He wasn't good enough. Therefore you don't want to have him being knocked out like that with the inexperience of Johnny Fisher, just [to] automatically go back into number three.”
Hearn revealed afterwards that he would like to see Fisher have at least two contests before stepping in with Allen for a third time in 2026. He also confirmed that Allen would have a minimum of two fights back under the Matchroom banner. Allen has worked with Hearn before; typically being pitted against world-class heavyweights on short notice. Hearn says he will instead be treated differently; Hearn’s his promotional rival Frank Warren promotes most of the biggest names in the domestic heavyweight division.
“Dave's obviously now with Matchroom again – I was laughing about that with him and it's going to be exciting to see what's next,” Hearn said. “The Johnny Fisher trilogy is there; there's a headline fight in Sheffield; there's keeping him active as well.
“Dave's got a massive profile and he's extremely likable – you could hear it in there – and by the way he's a lot better than he thinks he is when he gets it right, and I think he's still got a lot to give.”
On the subject of Fisher’s career, Hearn said: “Sometimes it's a little bit more of a blow because you kind of – on one hand you know that you've done everything you can, and you can look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I couldn't have done any more’, and on the other side you know that you did everything and still got beat, and therefore wasn't good enough, and that's the truth.
“You weren't good enough; you got old-manned; you got beaten by the better fighter, with more experience, and you've got to come back stronger. That's it.”