The new ‘Battersea Bomber’
We have a new British middleweight champion and his name is Denzel Bentley. The unbeaten fighter from Battersea, south London, via the Fisher amateur club, won the vacant title on Friday night (13th) in the BT Sport studio ‘bubble’, Stratford, east London.
The 25 year old Bentley (14-0-1, 12 KO’s) defeated Oldham’s Mark Heffron in the Queensberry Promotion after Heffron’s corner pulled him out at the end of the fourth round on sustaining a horrific swelling in the second that was patently getting worse as the fight progressed.
It was as bad a bruising and swelling as you could see and watching on TV you winced every time Bentley landed on the expanding ‘mouse’. Heffron (25-2-1, 19 KO’s) was basically rendered unfit to see out of his rapidly closing eye and it was an inevitable decision for cornerman Michael Jennings to make.
Bentley dominated from the opening round with a willingness to hold his ground and fire in heavy shots to Heffron’s equally aggressive come forward advance. It was evident early in the fight that Bentley was the heavier puncher and literally bludgeoned his opponent to submission. They’d fought to a draw only two months ago and this time the title was on the line and the Battersea man’s victory emphatic.
Clearly ‘cock a hoop’ in the BT Sport post-fight interview with the Lonsdale Belt slung over his shoulder he confirmed he was going to sleep with it ! One of his team interjected during the interview to add that he’d now joined an “exclusive club” of champions from the Fisher Amateur Boxing Club, including former world champs Terry Downes and Lloyd Honeyghan.
Whether Denzel goes onto emulate anything close to their historic achievements is in the future, but he looks to have the tools to certainly move onto European level and maybe beyond. First he will seek to win the Lonsdale Belt outright with the required three British title victories.
The Ladies are on the rise
Undisputed female lightweight world champion Katie Taylor (17-0, 6 KO’s) headlined and stole the show live on Sky Sports Saturday night. She defended her titles in a one sided ten rounder against Spaniard Miriam Gutierrez (13-1, 5 KO’s). The unanimous scores reflected her dominance at 100-89, 100-90, 99-91.
Quite simply Taylor was different class and did even more to enhance her reputation as a contender for pound-for-pound best female boxer in the world. The Irish-megastar is currently ranked #2 in The Ring magazine listings and her career goes from strength to strength.
The female dominated Matchroom Boxing show also saw Britain’s Terry Harper successfully defend her WBC world super-featherweight title against Katharina Thanderz on a ninth round technical knockout.
A third ‘world’ title fight saw another belt go to Britain with Rachel Ball winning the vacant WBA female interim super-bantamweight title outpointing Jorgelina Guanini.
The successful show marked the first time that women had headlined a card on British television with all three main bouts being female world title fights. The ladies have truly arrived !
The Undisputed 