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Changing of the Guard: Heavyweight old hands refuse to go quietly from crowded British scene
Stood in the ring at London's Copper Box Arena, moments after dispatching Johnny Fisher to the floor with a brutal fifth-round finish, Dave Allen could scarcely take it all in.
"You know what it means?" the Doncaster veteran bellowed with hoarse intent, trying to rise above the din and the noise echoing around him. "The belt, everything, my kids.
"At this level, I'm a handful. I've got experience, I know the game inside-out. The first fight did me good. This means everything to me. I've been written off so many times."
Allen has indeed been written off many times - and despite pushing Fisher all the way to a split decision call in Riyadh five months ago, he was the outsider again here.
But this result is the latest in an increasingly crowded domestic heavyweight division that suggests a supposed changing of the guard may not be so simple on British shores.
This time last year, Fisher was fresh off a first-round knockout victory against Dmytro Bezus, only a few months out from delivering the same result against Alen Babic.
The Romford Bull had built a reputation across a short but scintillating professional career for hard hits and harder knockouts, all typically delivered with flyaway pace.
Many were feting him among the future faces of homegrown heavyweight boxing, with plenty of seasoned pros and pundits all keen to laud his talents among his peers.
Yet while this first professional defeat is unlikely to define him, it does shine a spotlight on the turbulence of an ever-changing weight class bursting at the seams with faces.
For the best part of a decade, it has been Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua that have flown the flag for the country's international superstars, giants among the division's best.
The former is retired - for the moment - and the latter remains sidelined since a brutal loss to Daniel Dubois in September, the latter firmly at the front of the new vanguard.
As Dubois sets out his stall to face Oleksandr Usyk in a highly anticipated - and undisputed - rematch this July though, the pecking order behind him feels less clear-cut.
Alongside Fisher, four more were seemingly garlanded as the future over a summer of fine performances - Moses Itauma, Fabio Wardley, Frazer Clarke and David Adeleye.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Now, the jury is out on just which - if any of them - will break through from local hero status and onto the global stage as a major draw in their own right over the coming year.
Itauma arguably seems best placed to do so. Despite his relative youth and inexperience, the 20-year-old has torn through the lower ranks of the division in over two years.
A first-round knockout of Australian veteran Demsey McKean last December further pushed him into the frame as a future world title challenger chasing sporting immortality.
Even though Mike Tyson's record for the youngest world heavyweight champion has been and gone now, the star still looks likely to engineer his next breakthrough soon.
Itauma fights this weekend, in fact, on the undercard of Josh Taylor's comeback fight, against ex-American football prospect Mike Balogun at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.
Another dominant display will arguably further his credentials against those other rising stars, such as Fisher, looking to push themselves higher up the pecking order.
- Read more | Justis Huni claims to "tick more boxes" than Fabio Wardley ahead of Portman Road showdown
Wardley too returns to action, with the biggest date of his career thus far - a massive hometown stadium show at Portman Road in his hometown of Ipswich, against Justis Huni.
After a two-fight series with Clarke - a fascinating draw in their first bout, followed by a brutal knockout in their second - he too has further increased his standing and reputation.
By virtue of a WBA ruling, the star has the chance to become an interim champion and de-facto mandatory challenger with victory, catapulting him to top-ten world status.
The gulf therefore is widening to Clarke, Adeleye and Fisher, even if all three men have enough under their belts to suggest they can still push on and through to the next level.
But Allen's victory is a further reminder that the old guard of British stars are not going to go quietly into the long night of retirement, at any level of the heavyweight division.
Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Derek Chisora's latest victory over Otto Wallin in February has teed up the star as a mandatory challenger to Dubois for his IBF crown, with the veteran seemingly happy to wait.
Twice a world title challenger in his prime, the 41-year-old could unexpectedly be elevated to the crown if Dubois - or Usyk, results depending - is forced to vacate after their bout.
Then there is Dillian Whyte, a two-time WBC interim champion whose record still remains arguably among the best of any British domestic fighter below Dubois, Fury and Joshua.
The star may have been relatively inactive in recent times, but his name still carries enough weight to suggest that he won't be going down easily against any of the young bucks.
And then there is Allen himself, a man who had plotted a second and definitive retirement from the sport as he stepped into the ring to face Fisher in Riyadh last year.
Instead, the White Rhino has finally got his hands on a belt, taking the latter's WBA Inter-Continental crown to realise his career ambitions and dreams over a decade in.
(Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
There was plenty of mutual respect and admiration between Allen and Fisher around both of their fights - indeed, the pair's history as sparring partners has forged a key bond.
"I'm him, but with 30 more fights basically," the former said in the ring "He's a very good friend of mine. I wouldn't allow [a trilogy fight] to happen. It's not in his best interests."
Therein lies the rub for the star and several older faces. Previously, Allen had suggested that he would be content to serve as a gatekeeper for the next generation coming through.
But now, like several of his fellow veteran contenders, the door to one last shot at greatness remains tantalisingly open - and the old stagers won't let the rising stars in on their watch.
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