SYDNEY, Australia – No Limit expect the WBO to elevate what had been on course to be an eliminator between Denzel Bentley and Endry Saavedra to a contest for their interim middleweight title.
England’s Bentley and Saavedra, of Venezuela, had been on course for a final eliminator for the title held by Janibek Alimkhanuly on first the undercard of Joseph Parker-Fabio Wardley on October 25, and then potentially Nikita Tszyu-Michael Zerafa on January 16.
The complications involved in their promoters – Bentley’s career is guided by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions – agreeing terms were then compounded when Janibek, the IBF and WBO champion, tested positive for a banned substance and was forced to withdraw from his unification showdown with the WBA champion Erislandy Lara.
Bentley, 30, recently passed a year since the victory over his countryman Brad Pauls that he first hoped would lead to a rematch with Janibek, of Kazakhstan, and while Saavedra fought in April when he stopped Mikkel Nielsen, No Limit’s Matt Rose believes that their pursuit of world honours, if not a recognised world-title fight, will soon be at an end.
“We’ve been chasing the fight with Bentley for probably three or four months,” Rose, who on December 17 oversees Tim Tszyu-Anthony Velazquez, told BoxingScene. “For whatever reason, different things have happened that have stopped that fight. Probably a blessing in all this is that we’re now in a situation where I would think the most likely outcome is that they will fight for the world title.
“If it’s the interim world title, we’ll accept that and wait for the outcome of Janibek’s situation as well. The biggest thing for us is getting the fight with Bentley. He’s ticked all the right boxes; he deserves his shot. We wanna get him the title shot, but again, we understand the WBO makes the call on that.
“Saavedra deserves a shot. He’s been very patient; has fought some really good fighters to get where he is. I’d probably question where Bentley’s at, because he hasn’t fought for 12 months. We’ve gone through a really rigorous process of good fights. He’s had really good fights; had really good performances, and the Bentley fight is what we really want right now. Whatever they outcome is with the WBO with regards to the champion, I believe we’re in prime spot either way.
“We almost got it together with Queensberry – a lot of the time it’s around the timing of cards and when things happen. We almost done the fight [on Joseph Parker-Fabio Wardley]; for whatever reason we couldn’t quite come to terms. We looked at the end of the year, and this has popped up, so we’ve pulled back to go ‘Let’s wait to see what decision’s made with the WBO’. Worst-case scenario landing interim world title, which we hope to happen – that would be a great outcome as a worst case. But it could be for the world title.
“We thought about it [for the undercard of Tszyu-Zerafa], and again, the same thing – because this situation has popped up, we put things on hold. Hopefully a decision can be made by the WBO.”
It was reported that the banned substance for which Janibek tested positive was meldonium, a performance-enhancing drug that can boost an athlete’s endurance but was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2016. He had been tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
“I have always supported clean sport, you know this well,” Janibek posted on social media in response to the development. He was replaced against Lara by Johan Gonzalez, who lost via decision. “I was surprised when I read the news.
“Vada took the first test and said everything was clean. I have not made any changes to my vitamins. I don’t know what happened with the second test, so I requested a re-test.”
It was in July when the WBO first ordered the final eliminator between Bentley and the 34-year-old Saavedra.
“He come over for a fight here in Australia as an underdog, won the fight, and we really liked who he was as a person and we signed him off that performance, and from there he’s kept performing,” Rose explained. “A kid from Venuezuela, living in Mexico, doing his best in life – we love those sort of stories. It was an opportunity for us to link up with him and create what we believe is a path to a world title.”
