Dave Allen admits he is gutted after tomorrow’s planned fight with Christopher Lovejoy was forced to be cancelled.

Allen (18-5-2, 15 KOs) was due to face Lovejoy (19-0, 19 KOs) on the undercard of the heavyweight clash between Oleksandr Usyk and Derek Chisora, which is live on Sky Sports Box Office and DAZN.

On Wednesday evening, a contractual issue with American opponent Lovejoy was discovered, which has forced the fight to be called off.

Lovejoy had not disclosed that he had an existing promotional agreement with Don King, who contracted event promoter Eddie Hearn with a complaint. The two were unable to reach an agreement for the fight with Allen to go forward.

Allen said: “I am gutted and sorry to say my fight with Mr Lovejoy will not be going ahead and I will not be fighting on Saturday.

“I am in maybe the best shape of my career but luck has not been in on my side, I have been told I will fight before the year is out and will start training for that this evening.

“I’m very sorry for letting people down but this is a situation well out of my hands.”

Tomorrow’s card will still feature Savannah Marshall, as she goes up against Hannah Rankin for the vacant WBO middleweight title.