Denzel Bentley will fight before the end of 2025, according to his promoter Frank Warren.
The middleweight had previously been on course to feature on the undercard of the heavyweight contest between Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley at The O2 Arena in his home city of London, England.
Purse bids for an eliminator for the WBO title held by Janibek Alimkhanuly, against Endra Saavedra of Venezuela, are scheduled for Monday, and Queensberry Promotions’ Warren is optimistic about being able to confirm a fight date in December.
The WBO first ordered the eliminator in July. Queensberry had been confident of staging it on Saturday, 10 months after Bentley impressed in victory for the European and British titles against his fellow Englishman Brad Pauls, but after further delays Warren told BoxingScene: “He’s fighting in December – we’re announcing his fight next week.”
That Saavedra is promoted by the Australia-based No Limit means it remains possible that Bentley will be forced to travel to Australia to feature on the undercard of the middleweight fight No Limit hope to stage between Nikita Tszyu and Michael Zerafa before the year’s end, but Warren said: “I hope that’s not going to be the case. We’re still negotiating.”
Bentley previously challenged and lost to Alimkhanuly for the same title in 2022. Since the 30 year old’s victory over Pauls, Alimkhanuly has only fought once – when in April defeating Anauel Ngamissengue, contributing to Warren’s “frustrating” belief that the Kazakh has little interest in a rematch.
“Janibek doesn’t want to fight him,” he continued. “I thought [Bentley] done enough [during the first fight] – certainly if he had done a bit more in the earlier rounds he’d have beaten him. [Janibek] don’t want a rematch – they’ve done their best to avoid it.
“It’s been frustrating. Denzel’s there – he’s the number one – but sometimes you’ve got to bite the bullet and you’ve got to get on with it. Nothing you can do – you have to get on with it.
“He’s in a good position. I hope he gets the rematch. If he gets the rematch having shared the ring with him, he knows that he’s got the tools to beat him.
“He’s pissed off. He wants to fight – he’s a fighter. They all want to fight. They’re in the gym training – they want to fight. That’s what pro fighters want to do.”
