Heavyweights Nick Webb (12-0) and Dave Allen (13-4-2) clash on the Dillian Whyte vs Joseph Parker PPV event at the O2 Arena, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

 Webb, 30 from Chertsey, is unbeaten in a dozen bouts but Allen will be a significant step up in class for the former ABA champion.

Doncaster’s Dave Allen, 26, has the upper hand in experience having fought for the Commonwealth title twice and has boxed three times the number of professional rounds than his opponent.

There’s a reason that Webb has only experienced 26 rounds as a pro and that’s because he is a fearsome puncher. His 12 fights have been scheduled for 52 rounds in total, but the heavy-handed heavyweight has only had to complete half of those with 10 knockouts to his name, scoring five consecutive first-round KO’s in his debut year.

BACKGROUND

As an amateur, Webb took up the sport late, in his 20’s, but raced to 21 wins from 27 bouts, reaching the finals of the ABA’s every year from 2011-2014. He won the Novices in 2012 after finishing runners-up the year before, then met Joe Joyce in the Elites finals in 2013 and the semi’s in 2014, losing out to the more experienced Team GB boxer both times.

Allen, too, had a short but productive amateur career, winning the national boys club title and the Yorkshire ABA’s in under 10 fights. Two-time ABA champ Simon Barclay [now a 10-3 English title contender] proved to be his nemesis when he lost by two points on the old scoring system, 19-17, in their ABA fight, which also ended his association with the unpaid code as he turned over aged just 20.

LAST APPEARANCE

Conisbrough’s Allen was last in action when he fell to a final-round stoppage loss to highly-rated French Olympic gold medallist Tony Yoka over 10-rounds.

Surrey’s Webb, managed by Scott Welch, was last seen in action on February 3 on the Lawrence Okolie v Isaac Chamberlain undercard at the O2 Arena in London when he blasted his Croatian counterpart away in the last 15 seconds of the second-round.

OPPONENTS

Webb’s opponents have not been of a good standard, as their combined records of 109-193-15 suggest. He has only fought one winning fighter in his career and his toughest opponent to date has been Prizefighter finalist Hari Miles (9-9), who he beat 40-37 on points.

It’s therefore difficult to judge Webb’s prowess against weakened competition, but his amateur rivalry with current Commonwealth heavyweight champion Joe Joyce is a strong indicator that he is a talented prospect.

Allen has fought opponents with an impressive record of 227-179-12 and not only were 12 of those winning fighters, but two of those were unbeaten and one went on to fight for a world title.

The headliner of the July 28 show, Dillian Whyte, was the first person to inflict a defeat upon the ‘White Rhino’s’ record in his first title fight two years ago in July 2016, which went the 10-round distance. Allen went on to take Lenroy Thomas to a split decision for his Commonwealth title in May 2017 over 12-rounds.

POWER

Heavyweight boxing is all about power and Webb has the upper hand here, just. In a division where one punch can really change it all, Webb will undoubtedly be looking to win by knockout. He will have to be careful because Allen also has 10 KO’s on his record from his 13 wins which means there’s only a few per cent separating their statistics.

Allen is tough, durable and has plenty of heart which is why his only two stoppage defeats have come in the last round against Tony Yoka and the penultimate round against world title challenger Luis Ortiz.

FORM

Webb is unbeaten but also untested, whereas Allen has mixed it with the world’s best and proved he is champion material with his narrow loss to Thomas for the Commonwealth.

Webb will have the confidence of a fighter that is unbeaten in 12 fights and the heart of contender that has frustratingly failed to get title fights despite signing contracts for the English and Commonwealth against Nathan Gorman and Joe Joyce respectively.

He believes in his talent which is backed up by his willingness to face unbeaten champions Gorman and Joyce as well as Daniel Dubois.

Allen comes into this fight a little confused, having spoken about having a break from boxing for a while then signing up to fight Webb at the very last minute without adequate time to prepare fully. He has spoken – perhaps in jest, as he often does on Twitter – about his poor diet of takeaways and fizzy drinks and only having one or two gym sessions prior to this bout. He also called this fight, “one last roll of the dice”, which doesn’t sound like the words of an ambitious, hungry champion.

PREDICTION

Their clash of styles should ensure fireworks that will unquestionably light up the Greenwich Peninsula and give the grumbling fight fans their money’s worth on a PPV card catastrophically beset with cancellations and critique.

Having only ever been as far as six-rounds in his three-and-a-half career, the Surrey sports star will want to try to finish this inside the distance – his power has the ability to do this.

Allen could win by taking it to points, having had the experience of going past six-rounds a half-dozen times before.

Webb’s confidence and desire should edge Allen’s heart and bravery in this British title eliminator and win by KO in the middle rounds.

The winner will then meet British heavyweight titlist Hughie Fury next.

Dereck Chisora (28-8) takes on Carlos Takam (35-4-1) for the vacant WBA International heavyweight title over 12-rounds.

It all depends on what Chisora turns up to fight, but it’s safe to say the 34-year-old’s best days are far behind him. His record over the last two years has been very checkered and hasn’t been able to win consecutive fights within that period. In his last six fights, he has lost to very good competition in Kubrat Pulev (22-1), headliner Dillian Whyte (19-1), and Agit Kabayel (16-0). The barnstormer with Whyte and European title fight with Pulev ended in split decision losses for ‘Del Boy’, and the other European title bout with unbeaten Kabayel was a mixed decision. His three wins in-between those defeats were all stoppages against weak opposition.

His ability to split the judges against top-10 world heavyweights away from home shows he is still a force to be reckoned with at the highest level.

Tough Cameroonian Takam is 37 and has been around the pro ranks for the past 12-and-a-half-years since 2005. He has held the same WBC Silver belt that bill-topper Dillian Whyte now owns, which he defended successfully against David Price conqueror Tony Thompson (39-4) but conceded to another Price defeater in Alexander Povetkin (27-1) in 2014.

His last two losses have come at the hands of unified world champion Anthony Joshua (19-0) last October and Joseph Parker when he was 18-0 and three fights and seven months away from becoming a world champion for the first time.

He has 27 KO’s from 35 wins and is used to fighting all over the world. His last five fights have seen him win three of those against fighters abroad with a combined record of 100-29-1. He hasn’t fought in his native country of France since he beat former British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion Michael Sprott (42-23) in Paris three-years ago.

He proved against Parker and Joshua that he can’t be hurt or downed easily, it took 10-rounds for fearsome punchers AJ and Povetkin to both finally halt him.

He is a brute of a man, strong and durable, and has a size and reach advantage over Chisora, who hasn’t had a good scalp on his record since his loss to Tyson Fury back in 2014.

I expect Takam to win on points in a close fight that is played out mostly in the centre of the ring.