I heard you say it.

No, um, to be honest, like, I will, uh...

I'm, I'm not doing anything at the minute, really.

Not gonna box till next year.

At the Thomas Carney fight, I got a lot of stick.

I was really fit for that.

Did a lot of hard sparring.

Or do you actually w- wanna do these things?

That's worrying, isn't it? For you, that's

worrying.

No, it is a little bit, isn't it? I'm not sure I actually make any money at the moment.

So, yeah, I'm a bit too soft.

I'm trying my best to try and do better in terms of financially, but I'm a bit soft-touched sometimes.

But I am trying though, aren't

Right, I'm getting off.

See you soon, mate.

What are you feeling, I guess, a few weeks out, having seen them up there together for the very first time head to head?

It's a very interesting one because for me it's a battle of who's got more left.

At many different times over the years, you could have said Fury would outbox him.

He's got the legs for 12 rounds.

He'll be too clever and too good.

There's been times where he said Joshua's too relentless.

Pre-Ruiz, he was knocking everybody out.

You've boxed over there in Saudi, of course, and he's put the big fights on and none bigger than this.

Yeah.

It's something that as a boxing fan, that's been a boxing fan for so long, like me, we've been waiting for this moment.

So I'm, I'm actually half excited for it.

Have you met either of them? I've been a sparring partner to both for many years.

Yeah.

And I knew them both.

It's been a long time, but I spent a lot, a lot of time with both of them.

you have to take sparring seriously and I know you can't play boxing, but is there anything in the sparring ring that you think that was a bit out of order? That was a bit heavy? Or is it all just heavy at all times?

I? Tell the truth.

So Joe was trying to get Joe a fight, yeah, and Eddie went, look, I said, listen, all I want is Joe Howard on the bill.

I want Joe Howard on the bill.

I said, this man's the real deal.

This man's unbelievable.

I think he's unbelievable.

I'm a massive believer in him.

Why do you always get thrown in with these guys? Why is it always when somebody comes up for loss or somebody-

Dave, what was your verdict on that huge showdown last night in Vegas?

Um, do you know what? I felt...

I watched Eubank-Benn, I weren't Eubank-Benn last year, November.

I got a lot of stick 'cause I said Conor Benn's not world-class.

So I'm watching the fight last night.

I wouldn't have stayed up and watched it if I weren't doing this for you.

But I'm thinking, like, Ryan Garcia, this is a mismatch.

I'm in full control, and I can sort of pull the trigger whenever I want.

I know you say that you don't want to talk down on him, but it feels to me like you're saying, I don't want to give you this because of the way this was all handled and how it all went down.

I want to win the British title.

Okay.

That's it.

That's all that's left for me.

So I will never, ever speak negatively about him.

I like the guy.

What do you say to the people who say that you were not looking like your best shape out there?

... has kids changed you? Has ha- been having the kids changed you in terms of being more, I don't know, just enjoying life a little bit more outside of boxing?

Yeah, yeah.

I think so.

Yeah.

I enjoy my, I enjoy life now.

I have, I have, um, I have other interests now.

I never had o- other interests before.

Mm-hmm.

Dave, how seriously do you take this fight? What version of Dave Allen have we got this week?

And how seriously do you take Thomas Carty? I've been a pro 15 years now.

This is fight 39.

After the Hergovich fight, all the feeling left me, really, for boxing.

The feeling's left.

I'm not here trying to resurrect a runner at any titles.

I'm here to fight, really.

Do you feel like, one, it'll play into your hands, and two, Thomas, how are you going to be able to control that many people and obviously the emotions of the homecoming as well?

you think you'll beat Carty?

At what, boxing? You know what, it's difficult for me.

I'm not really a big believer in myself.

But...

You've always been that, haven't you? Always, yeah.

It's just sport, you know, I think he's a nice fella.

It's just a boxing match.

Yeah.

the actual way that Ugovic maneuvered himself through the fight, because there was times early on where I thought he's going to do really well to see five or six at this point.

Yeah, when I boxed Philip, I didn't get to feel his best attributes.

I don't think he's a puncher.

I don't think he's someone that forces it.

I think he's tough.

He has a good job.

With me, he showed me no respect.

But, yeah, what do you think the best attribute was last night?

You see that body language, those signs, that he just went off too quick.

Yeah, when I saw Big Phil yesterday, I spoke to him at the weigh-in, and he weighed 236, and he looked me in the eye and he said, I'm not sure how good this guy is, I thought.

I thought, I wrote you off too soon.

I'd be a liar if I said I was confident he would win, but I believed he'd give most all he could handle, and he did.

And from round three or four onwards, I think we all saw it coming.

It was too much too soon.

By round seven, round eight, Talma just...

He's all

We see him get behind Filip Hrgovic and shove him off the stage.

Yeah, Big Phil.

Obviously, I boxed Big Phil in May.

He's a bit of a weird character, Phil.

Like, he's a bit odd.

Um, I didn't, I didn't know what to make of him.

I don't think he knew what to make of me, but w- there were a lot of, like...

Mm

What was that experience like?

Big Phil's really good.

He's a really good fighter.

He's a world-class fighter.

I think he's probably somewhere around the top five.

He really is a top-class fighter, amateur and pro, Olympic bronze medalist.

As a pro, I don't think we've seen the best of him, actually.

Do you feel it's justified as a pro and as a heavyweight? Do you look at Atalma and do you think he's the real deal? Or do you want to sort of see him tested?

Yeah, please.

First of all, I never made the fight.

So Filip Hrgović was offered to me.

"Do you wanna box Filip Hrgović?" What's the craic? You know, 'cause I know he's a big guy, so what's the craic? This amount of money, right? That'll change, that'll change my life and me kids' life.

Doncaster Rovers Football ground.

Course I'm gonna do it.

We're up against it.

Why do you wanna do both? You don't see that often.

You've had some massive moments, but a must-win fight for you against Thomas Carty on September 5th.

Yeah, I got off of the fight a while ago.

Someone said I was Crote Park, but I didn't know what Crote Park was, to be honest, obviously.

I'm from Doncaster, so that's Crote Park, but I wasn't really sure what it was.

I'm still not actually 100% sure what it is now.

It's pretty big.

Yeah, I've heard that, yeah.

And if you don't beat Thomas Carty, it puts you in a tough position.

des scars de la bataille, et je ne vais jamais pouvoir comprendre parce que je n'ai jamais fait ça, mais nous parlons de la brutalité et du fait de ne pas vouloir s'en aller et du mal pris en conséquence dans la lutte de Tony Yoka, la lutte de David Price, n'est-ce pas ce qui t'a éloigné du sport tout de même ?

Pas vraiment, parce que j'étais toujours déchiré jusqu'à 31 ans.

Tu vois, c'est comme dire que je fais bien maintenant, mais jusqu'à 31 ans, j'étais déchiré.

J'étais mauvais à gambler.

J'ai dépensé de l'argent sur toutes sortes de choses, mais évidemment sur des choses malades.

J'étais déchiré, c'était tout.

J'ai acheté David Price et j'ai acheté de l'argent avec Price & Brown.

Et le plus important, c'est que tu as eu des

But

I watched him from a different angle, and at the time I thought, he's not really hitting me.

I thought he was starting to blow.

Now, I'm not saying I would have beat him, because I don't think I would have.

I don't think I would have been good enough or fast enough to beat him.

But I could have got through 10 rounds, I think.

Yeah.

Come here, you needed to wake

It was busy, wasn't it?

I knew, I knew, I knew they, they brought me in, you know, sell the tickets.

Hrgovic comes over.

The plan was he was gonna bang me out.

But I, but I was adamant that wasn't gonna be the case.

I thought I was gonna give him a fight.

Um, and I, I thought it was stopped early.

... and that's hard to do

So this morning on Radio National Breakfast, he joined Sally Sara, and she asked him why he'd decided to do that.

Well, I think those figures, I think they're, um, probably from, you know, one or two years ago.

I think the, the, the scale of the illicit market now is close to 80% in Australia.

Uh, for instance, we've lost 85% of our tobacco trade through our bottle shop, um, since the COVID/bushfire, the COVID/bushfire era that, you know, around that 2019/2020 period.

Um, and that's just been especially, um, especially over the last two or three years it's, it's really ramped up, and I thi- I think that that illicit market, um, is, is close to 80%.

Um, the scale of this is huge, and the problem is it's just squeezing out small legiti- legitimate businesses like me and, um, it was just...

You know, my business will survive.

What do you know about how big the price gap in, is in your part of the country, David, between legal and illegal cigarettes?

David, uh, uh, what's behind your decision not to renew your tobacco sales license?

Well, I think those figures that you, um, quoted just at the start of the, the, the piece there, Sally, I think they're, um, probably from, you know, one or two years ago.

I think the, the, the scale of the illicit market now is close to 80% in Australia.

Uh, for instance, we've lost 85% of our tobacco trade through our bottle shop, um, since the COVID bushfire, the COVID bushfire era that, you know, around that 2019, 2020 period.

Um, and that's been especially, um, especially over the last two or three years, it's, it's really ramped up, and I th- I think that that illicit market, um, is, is close to 80%.

Um, the size of the black market I think is, as, um, several witnesses said yesterday, is close to $10 billion.

Um, the scale of this is huge, and the problem is it's just squeezing out small legiti- legitimate businesses like me, and, um, it was just ...

Is that something that you've seen as a publican?

He'll 100% will

...

but, um, it is what it is.

It's a boxing match.

I'm really enjoying it.

Got a couple of lads on the un- couple, couple of lads on the undercard.

I'm over the moon.

He's Croatian

It is like you started your career again in a way, wasn't it?

Yeah.

Well, you've known me a long time.

I'm a different man now, aren't I, than what I was years ago? Um, so yeah, I've got...

I'm very grateful to Johnny as well, very thankful that they took me over to Saudi and gave me a chance and, um, you know, Johnny Fisher...

I was Johnny Fisher, I'm not sure.

He's a good fighter, but he's not obviously Filip Hrgovic's level or Usyk and Makhmudov, so, uh, but it gave me a chance.

... to have the mattress on the floor.

How are you feeling about what lies ahead for you?

Hello, Jim.

Um, yeah, very happy to be here.

I'm only a couple of miles from home.

Just had a look outside at the old Keepmoat, the EcoPower.

Um, gonna feel like a superstar on Saturday, yeah.

Obviously, I'm gonna fight Filip Hrgovic, which is not gonna be the easiest job in the world, but, um, I'm at home.

What is it about Hrgovic that makes you really quite fancy it?

Couldn't you have had a couple of easy ones, Dave, or is this what you wanted?

Yeah, um, there was no one more surprised by it than me, really.

I beat Kareem Berry Jam in Nottingham.

I was in Malta on holiday.

Got a text off Eddie Hearn, "Hrgovic or Zhang." So I'm thinking, "What on earth is he asking me that for?" kind of thing.

Like, they've already boxed, for one.

So I basically said like, "What, what do you mean?" Sent me a text back then with two figures, two amounts of money, and I just said, "This is not a wind-up.

Yeah, cool.