In the world of boxing, being a sparring partner for top fighters like Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk is not only a big challenge but also one of the most dangerous jobs.

Dave Allen, a heavyweight boxer with 23 career wins, shares his experience of “being a cannon fodder” for these fighters and reveals how much money he makes during intense training sessions.

Dave Allen sparred with boxing legend Wladimir Klitschko in Austria in 2014, when he was a teacher. He said: “We stayed in a luxury villa in the Alps, the food was great and they paid me £1,200 a week.”

Allen only trained with Klitschko for 5 days, but was still paid in full. This is one of the rare times Allen received such a large sum of money for being a “blue team”.
Allen fought Usyk for 25 rounds, almost getting knocked out. However, the living conditions were not ideal. “We were at the Ukrainian Olympic training facility, the food was terrible. I had to live on bread and chocolate for two weeks,” he said.

Despite the uncomfortable environment, the money Allen received from Usyk was quite good, at £840 a week.

Initially, Allen trained with Tyson Fury without receiving any money, as the two were close friends. However, when Fury returned in 2018, he paid Allen a small amount to help with travel expenses.

“I could earn about £300 a week, mostly for petrol,” Allen said.

Despite training with Joshua many times, Allen did not receive a penny from his colleague. Allen felt quite uncomfortable when compared to other fighters. “I used to think Joshua took advantage of me. I broke my nose for a year and got nothing,” Allen revealed. However, Allen admits that it was his fault for not protecting his own interests.

In addition to famous fighters such as Fury, Joshua and Usyk, Allen also shared about sparring with a number of other fighters such as Artur Szpilka and Robert Helenius, with salaries ranging from £420 to £675 a week. Enzo Maccarinelli, the former cruiserweight champion, paid Allen £20 per sparring round.

Being a sparring partner is not only dangerous but sometimes does not bring great financial benefits. However, for fighters like Dave Allen, it is still a way to maintain form, learn from the experience of famous boxers and earn extra income.