Zuffa’s first female signing Kayla Allen, fights in London on Nov. 7, and already has titles in her sights as boxing looks for the woman to follow Katie Taylor.
Katie Taylor said goodbye the way legends do. On Sept. 5, in front of 80,000 fans at Croke Park, she outpointed Flora Pili and walked away from the sport as the undisputed queen of female boxing.
Women’s boxing now an empty throne where Taylor used to sit. Kayla Allen believes she is the one to fill it, and she doesn’t pretend otherwise.
“Killa K” was the first woman signed by Zuffa Boxing and will appear on the Zuffa 12 card at the Copper Box Arena in London on Nov. 7, with Chris Billam-Smith vs Cheavon Clarke in the main event. Her opponent has not yet been announced. Her professional debut ended in a knockout of Edina Kiss, who had previously fought Amanda Serrano and Mikaela Mayer.
“Being the first for something in boxing is a privilege, and it’s something that you can never take away from me,” Allen told Irish Boxing Digest. She says the day she signed, and appearing on Sky Sports while family and friends watched at home, was “surreal.” “No one else can replicate what I’m going to do in the sport,” she added. “I’ve already created legacy, even before I stepped in the ring.”
She sees herself as part of a new wider push in female boxing. “I’m going to be part of that plethora of females that are coming through. I can’t wait to introduce new females to the sport,” she said, pointing to the shift Taylor started. “People thought it was impossible that females would be in the sport a few years ago, Katie Taylor broke that rule. People were like Zuffa will have no females? Well, I’m here.”
Her route to this point is far from standard. Allen, who is from Essex, played football from the age of three until she was 17, with stints at Millwall, Leyton Orient, Spurs and Barnet. Then lockdown arrived. “I bought a boxing bag and I borrowed some gloves from my next-door neighbour and put a YouTube video on,” she said. She studied Mike Tyson, Gervonta Davis and Floyd Mayweather, and grew “interested and fascinated by the sport.” Once restrictions eased, she took her bike to a local gym, had a few white-collar fights and bought her first car with the ticket money.
The next step was Hoddeston, one of the prestigious amateur gyms in Essex, where she was greeted by Alex and Seb Leo, who train her to this day. Her first international trip was to Sweden for the Golden Girl Championships. She won all three fights, stopping the home fighter in one of them. “I burst onto the international scene,” she said. Within six months she was on the England team, travelling to India, Spain and beyond. Within eight months of starting boxing she was on the GB squad. The rate of her progress was sensational.
The medals followed: national and elite national championships, European titles, and the Haringey Box Cup and Winter Box Cup among them. “Yeah, this goes on and on,” she said.
One thing she did not have was an Olympic dream. “I never really watched it as a kid. It wasn’t really in the household. It was just mainly football, cricket in the house.” Many on the GB team treat the Games as the goal, and she says mentors wanted that for her too. “That was the goal for other people. But for me, it’s always been to secure financial freedom and make my family proud of me,” she said, adding that her mother, a single parent and inspiration “raised me from the ground up.” She also adds she had already reached the top of the amateur game: “I beat the number one Kazakh. I beat a really good Brazilian when I was out in the Tammer Cup in Finland.”
In the ring, Allen promises little patience. “They’ll expect fireworks, and I’ll definitely provide that. I’ll provide value for money,” she said. “I don’t come to win on points. I come to see someone laying on the floor, on the deck. I never come around and tip-tap. I’m an aggressive fighter, and I’m fighting for more than myself.” She is not short on belief either. “I’m a special human being, and it will take a very special human being to ever beat me. On my best night, no one beats me.”
She also wants a world title within 12 months. “I don’t see how that’s not a possibility,” she said. “I’d fight for a world title tomorrow, but that’s what you got your team for, to help regulate you, and for you to get best fights at the right time.” She leaves matchmaking to her team and will face anyone: “Once they’ve got a head, two legs and two hands, I’ll take it. I’m just looking at the money and the belts they have.” Her summary: “It’s a matter of when, not if.”
The talk is bold for a fighter with one professional bout, and Allen knows the road wont be easy. Taylor’s reign was built over years of title fights and big-stage wins, including the 2022 clash with Serrano that made her the first woman to headline Madison Square Garden.
But Allen has the promoter in Zuffa, the platform in Sky Sports and a style that sells tickets and to her there is no doubt that she will be the one to dominate the next era of female boxing. “Zuffa gives me the platform to be unique and be Kayla, be Killa K under the bright lights,” she said.
Nov. 7 is where she starts to back it up and for the boxing world to take notice.
Zuffa Boxing 12 takes place on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Copper Box Arena in London, live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland.
Irish Boxing Digest will be at ringside in London.
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