Denzel Bentley has revealed how “relieved” he is that his much delayed WBO interim middleweight title fight with Endry Saavedra has been confirmed for April 4.
He has also described as “mental” the fact that the champion Janibek Alimkhanuly is not being stripped of the full title but instead has been suspended from participating in any WBO-sanctioned bouts for a year after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Bentley, 31, is to finally fight Saavedra at London’s O2 Arena on the undercard of Deontay Wilder-Derek Chisora – 16 months after his British and European middleweight title victory over his fellow Englishman Brad Pauls, and nine after the WBO ordered the eliminator against Saavedra.
He had expected to do so on the undercard of Joseph Parker-Fabio Wardley at the same venue in October before another four months of delays, but after at one point appearing on course to travel to Australia to fight the No Limit-promoted Saavedra, confirmation of his contest with the Venezuelan has since refocused his mind.
Queensberry Promotions’ announcement of Bentley-Saavedra became low key when Floyd Mayweather’s comeback and Conor Benn signing for Zuffa Boxing were announced later on Friday, but Bentley told BoxingScene: “I can’t explain how relieved I am I’ve finally got a date. I’m just so happy – it got to the point where I felt like, ‘Forget this eliminator – let me just fight, man.’ I’m on the other side of 30 now so time ain’t particularly on my side – I just want to keep moving. I’ve got to keep my career flowing, and I wanna have as much fun as I can in my career before it’s over. It was just so frustrating – I missed out on a whole year of what could have been a good year. We’ve got this date locked in – I’m grateful, and ready to get cracking in April.
“It was really frustrating. I’d walk into the gym every other week complaining at Martin [Bowers, my trainer] about something, and he’d calm me down and say, ‘Look, man, at the position we’re in.’ It’s a glass half-full, as opposed to half-empty, mentality. ‘Oh my days, I need you to just get angry with me.’ But it’s cool, man – he’s kept my head cool, kept me in the gym working on stuff. I haven’t wasted a year. It felt like I was wasting it but I haven’t – I’ve improved so much being in the gym for a year straight working consistently on things and things are coming off ‘cause I’ve had more time to work on them. I feel good in that sense – I feel the improvements in myself when I’m sparring, so I don’t feel like I’ve wasted a year. It’s been a year of practice and learning.
“The date in October, they agreed a deal with Endry, but they hadn’t signed it, and when it came to signing it they started asking for more money and things in their favour. That might have been a way for them to stall – maybe Endry wasn’t ready. Then I was going to take an in-between fight against [one-time opponent Nathan] Heaney in December on the Magnificent Seven card. That fell through because [Derek] Chisora and Dillian Whyte didn’t happen on that card in Manchester. Then, coming into the new year, because we agreed that fight [with Saavedra], everything else didn’t make sense. Now it’s been officially signed.
“There was a point where they wanted to host the fight in Australia, but they didn’t wanna pay the money that needed to be paid to do that. It was getting long. I had conversations with myself. ‘If I get offered something else I’m just gonna take it.’ I’d been out over a year; I couldn’t care less where it had been; I wasn’t hellbent on it being here. If Australia was going to pay me more, you’d have seen me in Australia.”
Bentley and Saavedra, 34, will have little choice but to continue to wait to fight Janibek.
Janibek outpointed Bentley in 2022, and also holds the title of the IBF, which has yet to rule on his status as their champion.
“I think it’s mental,” Bentley said. “You’re not giving the division a chance to move on and keep rolling. He’s held the belt for three years and he’s actually never defended it against a mandatory opponent – only the IBF has enforced their mandatories. If you’re guilty you should be stripped of that title. Let the division move on. Let there be a new champion – a new face of the division. We’ve got to wait until his suspension is done to fight him, so why are we being punished and losing the opportunity to become a world champion, because he’s being punished? I don’t think it’s fair.”
