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Officially, Denzel Bentley will be the challenger when he walks out to face Brad Pauls in a high stakes middleweight shootout on Saturday night.
Pauls will put his British title up for grabs whilst the vacant European belt has also been added to the pot but Bentley is pushing in some pretty big chips of his own.
The news that Hamzah Sheeraz will challenge WBC middleweight titleholder Carlos Adames has opened up the WBO title picture.
Sheeraz’s decision saw Pauls bumped up to No. 2 in the WBO rankings, but Bentley has been elevated into the No. 1 spot and – in theory – is next in line for a crack at his old rival and unified WBO and IBF titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly.
Bentley pays close attention to boxing politics and knew that this situation was a distinct possibility and while many fighters would have chosen to sit tight and wait for Sheeraz’s decision before signing up for a dangerous assignment like this weekend’s, that isn’t the Londoner’s way.
“But I don’t want to sit down and wait. I want to be active. I want to be going through the gears,” Bentley told BoxingScene.
“I don’t want to be one of the fighters that sit out for long and then it’s hard to get going. No, I want to be in the thick of it. Let’s go.
“This scares me because I can lose my ranking. I can lose everything. When I could have just sat down and waited.
“No, I’m not losing this. Fuck that. I’m not losing it.
“I’m not losing what I’ve had to work hard to get back because you [Pauls] think you’re having a good run. All right, cool. You think you’re hungry? You’re kind of starving? I’m just as hungry as you and I can fight so let’s go, man.
“Let’s go. I kind of love being in this position. I don’t, but I do. It’s weird.”
Pauls is known as the “Newquay Bomb” and is an all-action, thudding puncher. He has collected Area, English and British titles and has won them all by knockout. After drawing with Nathan Heaney in March, Pauls ripped the Lonsdale Belt away from the champion in July, stopping him in the final round of a pulsating rematch.
Bentley is a savage puncher. He has that rare ability to finish a fight with a single shot and has done it to a whole host of domestic opponents. Last November, a distracted Bentley lost his British title to Heaney but has issued a couple of stark reminders of what he is capable of this year. He stopped Danny Dignum in two rounds in May and followed that up with one of the knockouts of the year by flattening Derek Osaze in two with a perfect right uppercut.
The two have sparred plenty of rounds and although both are well aware of the dangers each other pose, Bentley thinks that Pauls may be a little more hesitant when the small gloves go on. He was willing to walk through fire to get his punches off against Heaney but will know that he can’t afford to absorb the same number of punches from Bentley.
“No, absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Bentley said.
“I don’t think he’s going to come out gunslinging. I think if he does, he’s selling himself short. I’ll be honest.
“But he only knows one way to fight, so I don’t know.
“I feel like he’d be a bit gun shy and not know what to do. But, listen, if he does come out gunslinging, I found out the other day after Derek [Osaze] that 13 of my fights have finished in the first three rounds. I didn’t know that.
“So, if he was to come out gunslinging it could end like the Derek fight or it could end like the Marcus Morrison fight [a fourth-round knockout]. Either way, if we get into this scrap I’m ready. If you want to walk into something, you walk into something.”
In the immediate aftermath of his loss to Heaney, Bentley wondered just how long it would take him to reclaim his position but rather than adopting a safety first approach, he told his team to bring him straight back at a good level. The approach has worked and he now stands on the brink of regaining his British title and
The opportunity to lock horns again with Alimkhanuly overshadows everything else, however.
It is two years since Bentley travelled to Las Vegas for a shot at the Kazakh’s title. After taking a couple of rounds to find his feet, he grew in confidence as the rounds passed and pushed the champion hard over the second half of the fight before losing a unanimous decision.
Bentley took plenty of confidence from the fight and has been desperate to even the score since. Beating Pauls will cement his position at the top of the WBO rankings but will also ensure that he carries real momentum into a title challenge.
“Exactly that. Because of the fact that me and Janibek have had history together. Every time someone asks me, I always say I want Janibek,” he said.
“I haven’t really even acknowledged the other champions but I know they are champions. I know they’re there.
“I see Adames, [Erislandy] Lara, and I’d fight any of those. 100 per cent, no doubt. But if you’re asking me who I want, I want Janibek.
“One, because he holds a win over me and two, if I beat him, I’m number one in the whole division. He’s the best of the champions there.
“He holds two of the belts and we have a bit of history so I’ve always said Janibek. I’ve never looked at anyone else so it’s all in my favour and I’m happy that I’m in the right direction.
“But I think the way I’m going to beat Janibek is by me being active, being in the gym, constantly fighting and just getting better every time rather than taking a step back to sit and wait. Then I’m going to have to get back in the gym and start trying to get things going. No, I want to be in the flow.”
John Evans has contributed to a number of well-known publications and websites for over a decade. You can follow John on X @John_Evans79.