Video: Boxing match under investigation for suspicious ending, betting patterns

DAZN screenshot

How fishy does David Allen vs. Dorian Darch look to you? This fight is now under investigation for its ending and the betting patterns.

There’s some controversy over a six-round heavyweight bout that took place on last weekend’s Kell Brook vs. Mark DeLuca undercard in England.

Fan favorite David Allen (18-5-2, 15 KOs) got himself back in the win column with a third-round KO of journeyman Dorian Darch (12-12-1, 1 KO). On the surface, that’s nothing out of the ordinary given Allen was a heavy favorite, but the fight itself has raised eyebrows. If you watch the whole fight (which you can at the top of the page, courtesy of DAZN), you’ll notice how decidedly inactive both men were through two rounds. After slappin’ gloves, Allen turned up the heat in the third frame and knocked Darch down twice. On the second knockdown, Darch looked like he could get up (after a quite theatrical fall) but opted to stay down. It’s the seventh stoppage loss in a row for the Welsh civil engineer.

Conspiracy theories were further fueled on the Sky Sports broadcast, with blow-by-blow voice Adam Smith noting that the two boxers were seen at the fighter hotel chatting over breakfast the morning of the contest. While that in itself is hardly reason to sound the alarm bells, the betting patterns just prior to the third round is what has drawn the attention of the British gambling commission.

As astutely pointed out by boxing betting expert Jim Karas, the “Allen KO-3” odds shifted significantly from the opening line to just a couple of hours prior to the start of the fight.

In the aftermath of the contest, both the British Boxing Board of Control and the Gambling Commission confirmed to The Sun (I know, I know) and BoxingScene that an investigation is underway.

Both men have since responded to the fight fixing accusations, and unsurprisingly they’ve denied any wrongdoing.

“Just hard to get your head around [but] i know being a journeyman is a job I got fek all to gain be losing in a certain round I cant bet myself,” Darch wrote. “I’m a trying journeymen who got beat in round 3. If I would [have] covered up like a koala and lost on points would that have been a fix?”

“Fix? If so I want a bigger cut? Twitter beauties,” he added.

“People were saying it was a fix because I was planning on it being a six-round move around,” Allen initially said. “A few of my mates had a lot of money on the points win and it didn’t come in but I am not the sort of guy who picks a round to win, I am not really good enough to do that.”

“White Rhino” made another statement on Twitter shortly thereafter.

“The last thing I will say on this is the British boxing board and gambling commission are very welcome to contact me at there [sic] convenience and talk this through and happy to answer all questions and I hope they do this as soon as possible and put the matter to bed,” the tweet read.

Gambling Commission communications executive Steph Barr later told BoxingScene, “In briefing, we don’t comment on ongoing investigations or confirm they exist because doing so could harm any investigation or could unjustifiably damage reputations.”