Dave Allen Calls Out Tyson Fury — "100 Percent" Even In Defeat To Hrgovic

• Dave Allen tells Sky Sports he will call out Tyson Fury after Saturday's Hrgovic bout in Doncaster — "even if I lose to Hrgovic but put a good fight up, I want the Fury fight"
• Frank Warren confirmed this week a tune-up bout is in the works for Fury in August before the November Anthony Joshua showdown — Allen is positioning himself as the British option
• Allen's hometown bout with Filip Hrgovic is Saturday May 16 at the Eco Power Stadium on DAZN — a sellout 14,000 crowd expected

The Quote That Got Boxing Twitter Talking

Make no mistake — Dave Allen knows exactly what he's doing. The Doncaster heavyweight has spent his entire career being clever about the platform, and on the eve of the biggest payday of his life he's just turned the volume up to eleven. Speaking to Sky Sports this morning ahead of Saturday's Hrgovic fight, Allen didn't dance around it. "If I beat Hrgovic, Tyson Fury is getting called out. One hundred percent," Allen said. Then the kicker — "Even if I lose to Hrgovic but put a good fight up, I want the Fury fight." That second sentence is the whole game. Allen knows the bookies have him at long odds against a Croatian who's mowed through Joe Joyce and David Adeleye in the last 18 months. He also knows that the British heavyweight scene has shifted overnight — Fury is back, Joshua is back, Wardley has the WBO belt, and Moses Itauma is the most-wanted prospect on the planet. Frank Warren needs a name for Fury's August warm-up. Allen is putting his hand up before the queue forms.

Why It Actually Makes Sense For Warren

Let's not beat around the bush. Frank Warren has a problem. Fury beat Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April and immediately called out Joshua. Joshua, sensibly given the inactivity and the December car crash, took a different path — July 25 in Riyadh against Kristian Prenga, then Fury in November on Netflix. That leaves Fury with a six-month gap between Makhmudov and Joshua. A six-month gap for a 37-year-old returning from a year out is not what Warren wants. He needs Fury active. He needs Fury sharp. And critically — he needs an opponent who'll generate UK ticket sales without representing genuine risk of derailing the Joshua mega-fight. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the Dave Allen brief written out in full. Allen has 20 KOs in 25 wins. He's a proper puncher in the opening three rounds. He's loved in Yorkshire and the Midlands. He'd sell out the Sheffield Arena on a Tuesday night. And — and this is the unspoken bit — Fury would be the overwhelming favourite. A summer Battle of Britain in Manchester or Leeds, fans get a Fury fight before the Joshua showpiece, Warren generates a tidy PPV number, and Allen gets the biggest payday of his life. Everybody eats.

The Hrgovic Question Comes First

Of course, all of this is moot if Hrgovic does to Allen what he did to Joyce and Adeleye. The Croatian is a proper operator — Olympic bronze, 19-1 as a pro with that single loss to Daniel Dubois being a war he very nearly won. He hits hard, he comes forward, and he's been promised an August 8 collision with Itauma if he handles Saturday's business cleanly. Allen is in genuine trouble. But here's the thing about Allen — he's never failed to come to fight. The Lucas Browne knockout, the Nick Webb war, the Luis Ortiz scrap on four weeks' notice — he turns up. And in Doncaster, in front of his own people, with 14,000 Yorkshiremen screaming his name, he'll be at his absolute level. If he can rough Hrgovic up early, get him into the trenches where the Croatian's technical advantages matter less, Allen could nick a result the bookies haven't priced in. He won't. Hrgovic is levels above him on paper and on form. The prediction here is Hrgovic by stoppage between rounds six and eight after Allen gives a proper account of himself for the opening half of the fight. But Allen will have done what he came to do — give the fans a night, generate the highlight reel, and remind Fury and Warren that he's the cheapest, most fan-friendly tune-up option in the country.

The Verdict

Allen knows he won't beat Hrgovic. That's why the callout went in three days early — get the Fury fight conversation started while the cameras are still pointed at him. Brilliant from The White Rhino. Brilliant. Will Warren actually deliver a Fury-Allen summer fight? Probably not — Joe Joyce is the more obvious option, and there are rumblings about Otto Wallin too. But Allen has done his job. He's in the conversation. And if Joyce or Wallin pull out, the Doncaster man is the call. Saturday first. Then we'll see whether the callout has any teeth.