Inducted on November 14, 1986
Irish Eddie Allen became interested in boxing some 58-years ago in 1928, at the age of 7, when his dad, grandfather and his uncles took him to see his first pro fight at Fletcher’s Field in North Bergen, N.J. Eddie remembers when Jim Braddock fought his star bout. He vividly recalls Mad Mountain Erickson’s knockout 4-round bout.
From that night on he was hooked on boxing. Eddie now resides in Scotch Plains, N.J., with his wife Alice, whom he married in 1941. This union produced four lovely daughters, most of whom are fight fans. Eddie’s wife Alice, has been a “dyed in the wool” fight fan for the past 45 years..
At the time of his marriage, Eddie was associated with Lou Lombardi of Jersey City, who was one of the hardest punching lightweights that the division has ever seen.
Eddie has been a trainer and second, a manager and promoter during his career in boxing, and has been associated with hundreds of world class boxers and many world champions. He learned a great deal of his boxing expertise from association and observation of people like the Marsillo Bros., and Eddie’s choice of the smartest boxing man of all times, Gil Clancy.
Eddie and his partner Bob MeNamara the last several years, have handled many fighters including: middleweight champion of St. Martens; Reggie Patrick, whom many thought defeated Bash Ali in Atlantic City. Eddie and Bob also handled Earl Liburd, Virgin Island and Caribbean welterweight champion. Eddie and Bob were associated with Howie Albert and Gil Clancy for many years, where they watched and learned how to handle fighters and lead them to success.
Eddie and Bob worked with Emile Griffith, 6-time Champion of the World, Harold Weston, number one welterweight contender, and Rodrigo Valdez, middleweight champion of the world.
That expertise gained by observation led to Eddie and Bob’s development of Mark Medal into the IBF junior middleweight champion of the world. Mark was recently defeated by Thomas Hearns in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the WBC title, but Eddie feels that he and Bob MacNamara can successfully lead Mark to another world champion- ship. We wish him well !