Denzel Bentley picks wondrous right uppercut to stop Derrick Osaze

Derrick Osaze was warming to the task against London middleweight Denzel Bentley but walked on to a second-round right uppercut inside a red-hot York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, and that was that.

After an exploratory opening session from both, Osaze was emboldened in the second and landed a flush right as he started to apply some pressure.

Bentley, the WBO’s number-two middleweight, was being backed up at times in the second but then, almost from nowhere, detonated a right uppercut as Osaze attacked and Osaze pitched face first on to the canvas.

Perhaps Osaze had been heartened with his success but then, with Bentley’s back to the ropes, he whipped in the uppercut that froze Osaze and cracked his stagnant foe with a right hook, ensuring Osaze plummeted.

Bentley celebrated with his trainer Martin Bowers and Osaze – who stopped the veteran Joel Julio in his past fight – tried to stand, but the referee John Latham waved it off.

It was a superb finish. Bentley picked a wonderful shot to close the show. The time of the stoppage was 2:27 of the second round.

Bentley is now 20-3-1 (16 KOs), while the 30-year-old Osaze – from London but based in Nottingham – is 13-2 (3 KOs). He had entered only his fifth fight in four years.

“That was a good punch, that was a clean shot,” said Bentley. “I thank God Derrick’s okay. Derrick’s a cool guy. A lot of people didn’t turn up [in London] because they knew both of us. Activity is the key. If I can get out one more time [in 2024], I’m happy. I’m in the gym working hard. I need to be an active fighter. An active fighter is a happy fighter.”  

Two of Bentley’s losses came on points, to incumbent champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, and Nathan Heaney, while Felix Cash stopped him in three rounds in 2021.