Lennox Allen: ‘I’m not saying that I will knock him out, but I will win’
Lennox ‘Too Sharp’ Allen at age 24 will probably have the biggest challenge of his fledgling professional career when he faces Guyana’s middleweight champion Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman on April 25 at the Cliff Anderson Sport Hall for the vacant super middleweight title.
It will be a matter of age versus experience since Allen’s record stands at nine fights without a loss as compared to Eastman’s 51 fights, 45 wins (35 knockouts) and six losses.
Some of the ‘Battersea’s Bomber’s’ opponents included the likes of Bernard Hopkins whom he lost to by unanimous decision unlike Allen who is yet to face a fighter who could really test him.
But the young Allen in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport from his New York home said that this should not be taken into consideration since boxing is a strange sport and the best fighter on any given night could win.
“First of all it’s an honour for me to fight. It’s a fighter I grew up watching and I admire him. I certainly know what he is capable of doing and I have seen him do his thing against some of the world’s best boxers like Bernard Hopkins and so on.”
“But for people to say that I haven’t had any real fight is wrong, any given night anybody could win in the ring, it’s just that I fight really hard,” said Allen.
The fight is scheduled for 12 rounds, a distance that the young fighter will be experiencing for the first time. His longest bout was eight rounds which he only fought three times, two of which went the distance.
But the fighter’s alias ‘Too Sharp’ indicates that this should not be a factor since he is still young and full of energy.
“I know that I have never fought 12 rounds before, but right now I’m working with my trainer Colin Morgan and we’re working on my stamina because I know I will need it against Eastman. He’s a great fighter and it will bring out the best in Lennox Allen.”
One thing, he said, is certain and that is he will win however it comes.
“I’m not saying that I will knock him out, but I will win. I’m not working on knocking out anyone at the moment. I know my strength and I know what I’m capable of doing, right now like I said is just my stamina,” said ‘Too Sharp’.
The winner of the fight will move on to fight former world champion Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis and showing his hunger for success in the sport, Allen said: “I’ll fight ‘Six Head’ any day, anytime and anyplace because I know he can’t beat me. The last time he was offered $5M to fight me and he refused because he knows very well he could never win. Right now I’m fighting at super middleweight but I will come down to meet ‘Six’ just to show that he can’t beat me.”
Prior to this matchup with Eastman, Allen was scheduled to fight Leon ‘The Lion’ Gilkes last month but he suffered an injury while training and he was replaced by Eastman who went on to win.
But Gilkes said that Allen was afraid to face him and that every time the two fighters were supposed to meet, Allen would make excuses.
The young fighter told Stabroek Sport with some amount of fury in his voice that he would fight Gilkes for free.
“I want to say this publicly that I would fight Gilkes for free, he… can’t beat me even on my worse day and with one hand behind my back. Growing up in west (Ruimveldt) I was always the better fighter between the two of us, every time we sparred I always win. But I will fight him for free,” said Allen.
Allen along with his trainer, Colin Morgan, is scheduled to arrive in Guyana on April 18th for his fight against Eastman which many believe is the biggest clash in Guyana in recent times.
The card entitled ‘The Big Showdown’ is sponsored by S and S promotions in collaboration with the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC).