The Boy From Battersea - Club Exclusive

Denzel Bentley, once again finds himself right on the cusp of shooting for stardom. A final eliminator for a second shot at the WBO world middleweight title is looming large against Endry Saavedra, where victory would compel the champion Janibek Alimkhanuly to enter into, what is for him, an unwanted sequel.

It is big-time stuff for the charmingly modest and certainly humble 30-year-old, but it hasn’t always been like this. Bentley wasn’t earmarked for any sort of potential greatness when he started out, having learned the ropes at Fisher ABC.

For a start they even got his name wrong when applying for a professional licence. Bentley’s manager and now trainer, Peacock Gym Guvnor Martin Bowers, made a mistake on his application and, for whatever reason, the BBBoC were not able to make the correction.

So Denzel Ntim Mensah soon became familiar as Denzel Bentley - Bentley being Denzel’s middle name.

What chance have you got if they can’t even get your name right? What’s in a name, anyway…

So Bentley began his unheralded entry into the professional ranks, like so many others, by flogging a clutch of tickets to perform at the Grand Old York Hall in October 2017, marking the occasion with a first round finish. His Journey went on to encompass venues such as the Camden Centre, Mayfair’s Hilton Hotel and Alexandra Palace.

But before he actually hit the circuit, some of us did get to see Bentley in action on a pro show. Your correspondent questioned whether we saw him fight an exhibition at the Tolworth Leisure Centre a month before his debut?

The show in question was on the brink of collapse, you would have thought. It was down to two four-rounders and a six, not exactly providing much bang for your buck.

Bentley was in the vicinity because his Peacock mate Billy Allington was fighting the redoubtable Fonz Alexander and he ended up exchanging some friendly fire with Victor Edagha, who was always knocking around at the Peacock.

Truth be told, the exhibition didn’t really add much value for the ticket outlay and then, to cap it all, the MC for the night invited those who did attend to extend a round of applause to the promoter for keeping the show on!

“Yes you did and that was my first ever fight,” replied Bentley to the Tolworth question. “It was against Victor, who was an away fighter, and we fought an exhibition.”

When you think that Bentley has swapped Tolworth, Camden and the like for the Royal Albert Hall, Wembley and Las Vegas, it should give him pause for thought over how far he has come from such humble beginnings.

If you get to know the Battersea Bang Bang a little bit, you would be aware that he does have a tendency to sulk on occasions, over short spells of inactivity or defeat. Maybe sometimes he forgets where he has come from or, more importantly, how far he has come.

“You know what, when someone mentions it to me, it does take me back a bit. But other than that I just live in the moment, you know what I mean? I am here now and I feel like I am going to push on from here.

“I don’t really have time to admire what I’ve done or how far I’ve come. I’ve done alright, but I still don’t feel I’ve achieved what I set out to achieve. I have underachieved in some sense.”

Underachieved? Really? The story of Bentley’s career would already make a decent enough movie and, if he stopped now, he could dine out on the fact he has won the British title on multiple occasions, won the European title, a number of International belts and went over to Vegas to fight for the world title.

Not exactly slim pickings for someone who seized his moment promotionally by sparring 10 rounds in the morning and going home, then stuffing down a load of pizza before taking a call asking if he was up for fighting at the Hilton Hotel in the evening.

Frank Warren was a man down on one of his charity dinner shows so a klaxon call was sent out in the direction of the Peacock, which resulted in Bentley taking on Serge Ambomo over six in fight No.7 of his pro journey.

Thankfully the pizza didn’t weigh him down too much and Ambomo lasted just under five minutes with the 169-pounder.

It signalled the start of a fruitful union between Bentley and the Hall Of Fame promoter.

“If I look back and think about what I’ve done, who I have fought and the challenges I have taken on. I’ve been to Vegas, been on billboards. That wasn’t something I thought I’d be able to do.

“I have done quite a bit but, like you say, I do have a sulk every now and again. I’m sitting at home thinking ‘no, I can do more’. So yeah, if it was to end today, I could say I’ve done quite a bit.

“The difference in me now to back at the start is maturity, understanding the game, knowing who I am and what type of fighter I am. Also knowing what I want. I mean, back then when I made my debut in 2017, it was a dream. What can I do? How far can I go?

“Now I am living that dream and I feel like it is reality. I’m here now. Back then it was, can I get to world level? Can I win a British title, can I win a Southern Area title? Coming from the small hall shows, would someone sign me one day?

“All those questions I was asking myself back then, I am living in that reality today. I am with Queensberry, I have been British champion three times, I have been European champion, I have fought for a world title, I am No.1 with the WBO.

“It is now my turn and I’ve got to capitalise on that,” insisted Bentley, who didn’t really bring much to the table in the first place.

“No I didn’t. I had 17 amateur fights, I got to the semi-finals of the National novices and then I turned pro. But I was in the gym with Ray (Bull) and Martin at the Peacock for about 18 months before I had my professional debut.

“That was basically me turning over with me realising the experience I was gaining. So when I did turn pro I was already pretty much a year in front.”

His backers, Messrs Bowers and Bull, have always had enormous confidence in their charge. Before he had even laced up a pro glove, the Peacock pair were offering him up to fight Joe Pigford on his debut. The big-punching Pigford was already 12 fights in and making quite a name for himself at the time.

“Yeah I loved it, I thought ‘I’ll fight that guy, he is slow as hell’. It was crazy, but they had a lot of belief in me. I think that has helped with my own self belief, that they had such belief in me.”

So many twists and turns, too many to mention, but Bentley was also the Covid King, fighting four times during the lamented behind-closed-doors period. During this time he won and lost the British title, drawing with and then beating Mark Heffron before suffering a numbing defeat to Felix Cash.

“Yeah I was, lockdown was kind of like a winner stays on situation and I was very fortunate to be busy. I appreciate that because a lot of people were out.”

Bentley can be stubborn and does things his way, sometimes to his detriment. Regrets? He has a few, but what irks him most? Starting slowly against Janibek and not being able to catch up, or losing to Nathan Heaney?

“F**king up against Heaney, 1,000,000%! I was on my Boxrec a minute ago and I saw Nathan Heaney and thought ‘f**k, I forgot I boxed him. Every time I see it, it frustrates me, but maybe it was just a sign, God telling me I wasn’t ready for world level yet and to take a step back.

“After that it would have been a world title fight. Who knows? I think I am more ready now than I’ve ever been before. I feel good about myself and more confident in myself.

“This time around I’m going to do it, I’m going to get it. Janibek isn’t just not replying to me now, he has blocked me, so at least he was seeing it. He doesn’t really want to fight me because I was a handful for him. I am the only one that has really pushed him to the limit.”