Nathan Heaney: record, next fight and profile →
British middleweight champion Nathan Heaney (18-0, 6 KOs), fresh from his stunning victory over Denzel Bentley to claim the title in November, will make his first defense of his Lonsdale belt, against the English champion Brad Pauls (18-1, 10).
After the success of their stacked ‘Magnificent Seven’ show last November, Queensberry look set to continue with the winning formula by promoting another multi-title card in Birmingham on March 16th.
Every fighter celebrates a big win differently. There might be a big night out or two - or three in some cases - with friends and a week of cheat days but it generally doesn’t take too long for the phone to stop ringing, the congratulatory messages to taper off and for life to return to normal.
Nathan Heaney entered the night as the show’s best ticket seller. The unbeaten Stoke-on-Trent middleweight provided every fan with their money’s worth as he earned a career-best win over countryman Denzel Bentley.
It is twelve months - almost to the day - since Denzel Bentley walked to the ring in Las Vegas to challenge Janibek Alimkhanuly for the WBO middleweight championship of the world. Bentley didn’t leave Sin City with a world title belt but he did come home with the confidence and self belief that he belongs at the highest level.
Nick Ball and Isaac Dogboe are all set to meet at the crossroads. Both boxers easily made weight ahead of their WBC featherweight title eliminator. Liverpool’s Ball (18-0, 11KOs) was a slim and fit 125 pounds as he faces his first former titlist. Dogboe (24-3, 15KOs)—an Accra, Ghana native who lives in London—was 125.2 pounds in a bid to bounce back from a WBO featherweight title defeat to Robeisy Ramirez earlier this year.
Nathan Heaney’s travelling army of fans will take over the AO Arena in Manchester this weekend. The Stoke middleweight hand delivers the vast majority of the two thousand or so tickets he routinely sells and has forged personal relationships with many of his supporters. They will make the hour long journey north with that partisan belief that they are travelling to watch their friend coronated as the British middleweight champion.
In a fight that is certain to draw a bumper crowd from the city of Stoke, Nathan Heaney (17-0, 6) will attempt to realise his dream when he challenges Denzel Bentley (18-2-1, 15) for the British Middleweight title, with the WBA Continental championship belts also on the line.
IT WAS QUITE some night at the fighting cauldron otherwise known as the Telford International Centre on Saturday. It really is a top venue to watch boxing and the fans were out in force, as usual.
Super lightweight contender Jose “Chon” Zepeda (36-3, 27 KOs) picked up ten round unanimous decision over Neeraj Goyat (17-4-2, 7 KOs) at the Domo Alcalde in Guadalajara, Mexico.