BY DECLAN TAYLOR
WHEN Nathan Heaney’s hand was raised at the Manchester Arena in November last year, the world went momentarily blurry for Denzel Bentley.
The Londoner had been an overwhelming favourite to retain his British middleweight title against the popular challenger from Stoke but after 12 rounds in Manchester, the belt was gone and Bentley’s career had suffered the biggest setback yet.
He had not been at the races that night, there was no doubt about that, and in the immediate aftermath the only question was ‘Why?’ This was a man who had scythed down numerous other domestic opponents but simply could not make a dent in an inspired and spirited Heaney.
Bentley had hinted at problems behind the scenes, suggested he had not wanted to be in Manchester at all that week but refused to make excuses. He did not want to take the shine off Heaney’s crowning moment by revealing what had been happening in the weeks that preceded the fight.
But the reality is that his world had been rocked as his training camp reached its most important stages and, in this exclusive interview with Boxing News, Bentley lifted the lid on how the premature arrival of his first son set the ball rolling on the toughest period of his career.
“So, I was in camp, got the fight, all done, everything was nice and my Mrs was pregnant,” Bentley recalls. “The baby was due the last week of November but he came six weeks early. That means I was deep in camp, the last three or four weeks.
“But he was so early that he was not healthy. He was in intensive care, his lungs hadn’t fully developed because he was so early. The way he came was sudden, three days after the baby shower, boom, he came.
“I was in hospital and they are telling me if they had left it half an hour he could have died. I thought, ‘This is mental’. Now my brain’s fried but I’ve got this fight coming up so I’m trying to balance being a father, helping the Mrs and everything else with preparing for a fight. Everyone is telling me I have to fight even with everything else going on. But I didn’t want to miss a moment.”
Nathan Heaney nails Denzel Bentley during their fight at AO Arena on November 18, 2023 in Manchester, England (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
What that meant is that Bentley was living on little more than hospital food and stress, hoping that if he could just make the weight he would be able to steer himself to victory no matter what. But Heaney had other ideas.
“For me it was gym, hospital, home, gym, hospital, home for the last three weeks of camp, the most important weeks,” Bentley adds.
“Now I’m going to Manchester and I can’t see my son, all I’m thinking about is if he is alright or not, what’s the midwife saying? How is my Mrs? So when I was saying I’m in Manchester but I didn’t want to be there, I really didn’t want to be there.
“In my mind I thought I would win the fight and then explain it all because it had been so hard and it was something I hadn’t been through before. But when I didn’t get the nod I thought I’d keep my mouth shut and not make an excuse.
“I took a back step and held that loss for as long as I needed to but now I’m back on track I can explain it a bit better.”
In the end, Bentley lost via majority decision in one of the biggest upsets in a British ring all year. But much has changed in the 11 months since; Heaney has lost the belt to Brad Pauls while Bentley got his career back on track with a pair of second-round knockout victories at York Hall over Danny Dignum then Derrick Osaze. And after his perilous introduction to the world, Bentley’s son, who is now approaching his first birthday, is perfectly healthy and happy.
“He’s good now,” Bentley says, smiling widely. “He’s happy, he’s in a good place and I’m seeing his little characteristics, his laugh and stuff, so it’s beautiful now. He sleeps well… or at least I sleep well so I don’t really know. His mum does well to let me sleep and crack on with training.
“Being in the gym and accepting the circumstances I was in and being with my son, knowing everything is ok put me in a better place anyway. When I was training after that, I realised that I do enjoy this and that loss wasn’t so bad.
“I needed those two performances and I needed them to be like that – spiteful and explosive. I’m happy with the way they went and I wasn’t expecting either of them to go that quickly if I’m being honest but I needed explosive performances and I got them.
“I just needed to show that the loss that I took was just a bump in the road because of my situation and now that I’m through that these are the performances I can produce. The two wins have put me back into my position and I proved to myself that I should be competing at a higher level and that’s where I’m getting back to.”
Denzel Bentley after beating Danny Dignum in May. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
The nature of his victories certainly suggests that the man who pushed Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in their 2022 12-rounder is ready for world level once again despite the setback against Heaney on November 18. It has also reignited the clamour for Bentley to face Britain’s other leading middleweight Hamzah Sheeraz.
The pair had been heavily linked throughout 2022 and 2023 and a victory over Heaney might well have set up a showdown with Sheeraz for the British title. The Ilford man is now a 21-0, 17 KOs European champion and considered one of the most promising fighters in the division.
But, like Bentley, he is promoted by Frank Warren and the Queensberry boss recently told Boxing News that he is ready to match the pair this year, with a slot on the December 21 card headlined by Oleksandr Usyk against Tyson Fury understood to be possible.
Bentley says: “I’m No.2 with the WBO and Hamzah is No.1. It makes sense. I don’t imagine I’m too far away from a world title shot. I think I’m in a good position right now and in my mind I’m thinking ‘world title shot next’.
“If it doesn’t happen with Hamzah, that’s all on his side. I’ve called for it, I’ve said I’ll have it next before my last four or five fights but he has been on a journey climbing the rankings and everything else. I can accept that and appreciate that but now we are No.1 and No.2 we are only in each other’s way. I think it’s the only natural fight to have next. I think if it doesn’t happen he is trying to find a reason to avoid it but I’m willing to go through Hamzah to get to the world title.
“It’s a division crying out for someone to come and get hold of it. Hamzah probably feels the same, that he’s the guy to do that. I feel like it’s wide open whichever way you go; Erislandy Lara is a great champion but he’s 41. Carlos Adames is a good fighter but I think he’s very beatable. Janibek has two belts but what does he do now? Will he get stripped? Will he move up? Either way it’s wide open and I’m ready for any call up.”
Given his desolation in the weeks that followed defeat to Heaney, which even involved thoughts of retirement, Bentley’s turnaround is more proof of how quickly things can change in boxing. He also knows he could be on the verge of life-changing money for him and his family.
“If I do this right then everything is sorted forever for him,” Bentley says of his son. “I brought him into this world, he didn’t ask me, so I have to secure his future. I want him to have a nice life where he doesn’t struggle or have to do some of the things that I had to do to get by.
“It’s down to me now, and everything is clear in my mind.”