KNOCKING ON THE WORLD TITLE DOOR

The significance of our Wembley headliner for the Magnificent Seven show on December 7 has definitely increased following a development in the WBO middleweight rankings.

Already, Denzel Bentley and Brad Pauls were primed to fight for the British, European and WBO International titles on the night. Now they will effectively be fighting for the right for a crack at the world champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.

Due to Hamzah Sheeraz pursuing an alternative world title route, both Denzel and Brad have shifted up a spot and now occupy the No.1 and No.2 positions in the rankings, which will quickly convert into a mandatory challenge.

It just goes to show how quickly things can change in this sport and that there is a reward for sticking at it. Two fights ago Denzel was down in the dumps after being outpointed by Nathan Heaney. He took a bit of convincing that a good win or two would move the dial for him in a big way.

And when Brad didn’t really justify himself in an English title challenge against Tyler Denny just four fights ago, he must have felt like he was a million miles away from such an opportunity.

I know I bang on about it, but a defeat really isn’t the end of the world if the application and burning desire remains in place.

Picking up from where I left off in my previous column taking a look at the fights on the London edition of the Magnificent Seven, first I will focus on a true heavyweight cracker.

It is another domestic showdown for the English heavyweight title between the undefeated champion Solomon Dacres and British title challenger David Adeleye.

Sol has had to bide his time a little waiting for this one to come around due to injury to David, but I believe it will be well worth the wait. For us watching on, at least.

On paper this appears to be a clash between a solid and skilled more technical fighter in Sol, against an explosive firecracker in David. Sol is perfectly content to do the rounds and go the long way around because he trusts his engine and is consistent in his approach.

David has only gone long in one six rounder and is coming in off the back of a first career defeat to Fabio Wardley just over a year ago. His confidence and belief in himself has not been dimmed at all and he has made changes, including the appointment of a new trainer in Adam Booth.

Credit to him for jumping straight back into the fire, but he didn’t want it any other way. This is going to be a fascinating fight.

The same can be said for the heavyweight introduction of Lawrence Okolie, who also fights for the first time under the Queensberry banner against a very confident Hussein Muhamed, who holds a decent record of 18-1 and is no slouch.

I believe that fighting at heavyweight will be the making of Lawrence. All he has to concern himself with is hitting optimum fitness and executing his tactics correctly. He doesn’t have to worry about making weight or how much knocking off the pounds takes out of him.

Weight-making does affect stamina and endurance, along with performance and it could be that some of the holding he has been widely ridiculed for previously was more about conserving energy.

We will see. This could be an illuminating new chapter for our heavyweight newcomer.

Not quite up at heavyweight just yet is our young cruiserweight force Aloys Jr, who will defend his WBA Continental title and challenge for the Commonwealth Silver title held by his opponent Lewis Oakford.

Aloys is displaying such maturity in his recent performances after being far more bullish in his opening fights. He has got enormous potential and it is incredible that he is still only 21. He showed great patience and poise last time out against an unbeaten opponent in Oronzo Birardi, which really established his credentials.

Now he goes up against very credible opposition in Lewis, who truly believes this will end up being his breakthrough night.

Pierce O’Leary is on the cusp of a major breakthrough himself, having just been mandated to fight for the European super lightweight title against Jon Fernandez. We secured the rights to stage this fight a few days ago.

It is an exciting division with a multitude of possibilities and Pierce is right in the picture. 2025 will be a huge year for him and he fully deserves it.

Our top young super featherweight Royston Barney-Smith will be looking to show why 2025 will be his year to step up in class and we also have a super feather of massive potential in Billy Adams having his fifth professional fight.

Finally we have the debut-making George Crotty on parade. Light heavyweight George is a serving Marine Commando who was a long-standing member of the GB Podium squad.

George wants to represent the Marines with distinction and I am sure he will do just that.

LAST FRIDAY WE were back at The Brewery in the City of London for our annual dinner show supporting DEBRA, who are a support organisation for people living with the awful condition of epidermolysis bullosa.

It is our 19th year backing the charity and I am happy to report that knocking on £250,000 was raised on the night.