Having picked up both a European and International title in a career spent on small hall shows and in the away corner, London’s Dee Allen is arguably one of boxing’s best kept secrets.
Hopefully though, that won’t be the case for much longer, as the 32-year-old welterweight is gearing up for her biggest year yet: Allen intends to end 2024 as a World Champion.
SHE BOXES caught up with Allen to discuss struggling to make fights in the amateurs, her European title win, and her future aspirations.
FAST FACTS
NAME: Dee Allen
ALIAS: None
NATIONALITY: UK
PRE-FIGHT SUPERSTITIONS: None
POST-FIGHT MEAL: Sweet potato fries
Struggling to Make Amateur Fights
Following her anger management therapist’s advice, Allen first stepped into an amateur boxing gym at 16-years-old wanting to improve her mental and physical health.
“I started because I had a very bad temper and I was almost 15 stone, so it just kind of made sense.
“I did it for about a year and Iost 5 stone. And then, by the time I got down to 10 stone, I was like, I actually enjoy boxing, I want to take it further. So, it just took off from there.”
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be until 5 years after lacing up her gloves for the first time that Allen would have her first amateur bout, due to a lack of women in her weight class.
Allen recalled almost going to the US where the female amateur scene was starting to pick up momentum but when her plans fell through, she carried on training at home in hopes the UK would soon follow suit.
“In the UK, female boxing just wasn’t really about like that. There weren’t really many females because I remember going to my first [female-only] training squad and there were only 6 of us in the whole of London. 6 females boxing, so there wasn’t really anyone to fight.”
Almost Quitting Boxing
After finally making her amateur debut at 21-years-old, Allen went on to have an incredible amateur career up until Covid-19.
In that time, she won numerous competitions including the Golden Girl and Haringey box cups, two and three times respectively. Allen was also selected to represent London on several occasions and boxed internationally in Italy, Sweden, and The Netherlands.
“The whole aim was to get to the Olympics. I think I was about 25 and I got an invitation to do the trials to get on the GB squad, but I got injured a week before—a really bad injury—and then I was out of boxing for a year.
“After that, I never even got an opportunity to go down to try and get on the squad so I kind of realised that I don’t think I’m ever going to make it to the Olympics so I need to just be real with myself: I’m not getting any younger, I’m not earning any money…I need to actually think about my future seriously.
“So then I was going to just quit, but it was one of my coaches from Haringey who called me up during lockdown and he was like, ‘You should try the pros because you’re really good and your style would suit it!’
“I didn’t know really anything about pro boxing or know any coaches or anything about how it worked and honestly, as an amateur, you just hear so much negative stuff about being a pro. But then I thought I’ll give it a go and see how far it goes and what happens and then, yeah, I’m loving it to be honest.”
Allen admitted that she had been deterred by how difficult it can be for small hall show fighters to juggle selling tickets amongst training and full-time work.
“After speaking to my coach, he gave me all the confidence saying, ‘You’re good and it’d be a shame to waste your talent!’ and ‘You didn’t make the Olympics but you can go for a world title instead!’
“I thought about it and decided to give it a go. I need to know that I tried because I know later on in life if I didn’t actually try having a pro career or try to get a world title, I know I will kick myself and it’s the worst feeling living with regrets, so I don’t want to have any regrets.”
Winning the European Title in the Away Corner
On Friday 3rd November 2023 in Vesoul, France, Allen beat previously undefeated French prospect Marine Beauchamp and became the new EBU European Welterweight champion via split decision. Two of the judges awarded 96-93 and 97-93 in favour of Allen, whilst the third scored the contest 94-95 to Beauchamp.
“It really did feel amazing! My aim was obviously to win but I was like, I don’t know if it’s going to happen: They could just give it to her just for the fact that obviously she’s French and she’s in France. But I am so glad that I won it.
“I was thinking, The only way I’m going to win over there is by knockout. I did drop her in the first 26 seconds of the first round, but then she got back up and it went the full 10.
“All I had in my head was, There’s no way I’m losing, I don’t want to lose. I want to stay undefeated my whole career. I got the job done and I am proud of myself for that.”
Sacrificing Everything
Despite her accolades, Allen doesn’t yet earn enough from her fights and sponsorships to train full time. She supplements her earnings from boxing with coaching and working in a clothes shop.
“It’s a bit of a struggle sometimes, trying to keep going and keep positive because I’m up literally 7 days a week on the go. There’s no real down time working as well to obviously support myself in boxing. It’s just work, training, work, training, work, training. I don’t really do anything else.
“It would be nice if I could manage my time a bit better so I could spend a bit more time with family, that’s the only thing that I think I miss a bit.”
When speaking to SHE BOXES in December, Allen emphasised that she was about to go on her second social outing of 2023 since boxing consumed so much of her free time.
“All my life is just boxing.”
“My dedication, my focus is just boxing. I really want to make it and be a World Champion and I know you’ve got to make sacrifices, so I’ve pretty much sacrificed everything. All my life is just boxing.”
Sights Set on Becoming a World Champion in 2024
Fighting at welterweight, Allen is part of a division stacked with talent. At present she will have to face the likes of Jessica McCaskill, Natasha Jonas, or Sandy Ryan for a major world title. However, Allen has no doubt that she can pull the rug from under all of them.
With an International and European title under her belt, Allen is currently ranked #8 by the WBC and #7 by the WBO and IBF, so it shouldn’t be long before she gets her shot.
“I have been overlooked and I know why, because I can take them out.”
“2024 by the end of it or middle of it, whenever, I just want to be a World Champion. That’s it, a world title’s definitely going to happen in 2024.
“I think I’ve got [the champions’] attention. They’re just trying to avoid me, that’s more to the point what it is. I have been overlooked and I know why, because I can take them out.
“They’ve heard of me, they’ve seen me, they know what I’m about, and they don’t want to fight me. So, they’re making it as difficult as possible but I’m going to get there.
“I’ve got my 2 titles now and if I can pick up anymore along the way then I’m willing to do that; I’m just getting myself in a good position so when the time comes then I’ll be ready for them.”
Should everything go to plan, Allen will see the year out with a world title and, more importantly, the leverage she needs to try and clean up the division.
“I want all the titles at welterweight and then once I’ve got all the titles at welterweight, I will go up to super welter at take all the titles at that weight.”