Nathan Heaneyvs Brad Pauls

The Magnificent Seven are set to ride again and will rock up in Birmingham on Saturday March 16 with another festival of top championship fights at the Resorts World Arena, live on TNT Sports.

Tickets for the Magnificent Seven Ride Again are on sale now available from theticketfactory.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.

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 defence of his Lonsdale belt, against the English champion Brad Pauls (18-1, 10).

Liam Davies (15-0, 7), the British, WBC International and European champion, will challenge for the IBO world super bantamweight championship when he takes on the holder Erik Robles Ayala (15-1, 9) from Mexico.

In a cracking domestic duel, also at super bantamweight, Commonwealth champion Dennis McCann (14-0-1, 8) faces the also undefeated WBO European champion Brad Strand (11-0, 3) with the vacant WBO Intercontinental title on the line.

Another battle of undefeated talents will take place at welterweight, with Eithan James (12-0) defending his WBO European title, along with battling for the vacant English belt against Owen Cooper (9-0, 3), the Midlands Area champion.

Up at heavyweight, Soloman Dacres (8-0, 2) returns defending his English title with an opponent to be announced shortly.

Jumping back on the heavyweight horse after rare career setbacks is the Juggernaut, Joe Joyce (15-2, 14), who returns in 10 round action against the former IBF European champion Kash Ali (21-2, 12).

Also on the card is former WBO International super middleweight champion Zach Parker (23-1, 17), who will take on the former WBA world champion Tyron Zeuge (27-1-1, 15).

“The depth and quality of this card is incredible with so many even-money fights,” said promoter Frank Warren. “The Magnificent Seven show in November proved such a hit with boxing fans that doing it again in the city that staged the original promotion back in 2010 made perfect sense. And this one is even better.

“Seven big title fights on one big night is a veritable banquet of boxing for sports fans to feast on and a number of our young stars are really stepping up for the occasion.

“It will be a special night for our Stoke hero Nathan Heaney making a first defence of his British title against the English champion Brad Pauls before, if all goes to plan, we get to fight him at the home of Stoke City at the end of the football season.

“Liam Davies fully merits his shot at a version of the world title at super bantamweight against a strong champion in Erik Robles Ayala, where a win will really put him right in the mix.

“Then we have got four absolute domestic bangers featuring Dennis McCann against Brad Strand, Eithan James against Owen Cooper and Soloman Dacres defending his English title – all with championship belts on the line.

“We will also get to see the return to heavyweight business of Joe Joyce before he hopefully makes himself part of the bigger picture again, plus our super middleweight tank Zach Parker making his move back towards elite competition once more against a top opponent in Tyron Zeuge.

“If you love boxing, Birmingham is the place to be on March 16.”

WINS
19
LOSES
1
DRAW
1
KOs
11

Brad Pauls

“the Newquay Bomb”

The Newquay Bomb, Brad Pauls, is the British middleweight champion, having realised his career-long dream in July with a resounding late stoppage of previous champion Nathan Heaney in Birmingham, at the second attempt.

The pair fought to a thrilling draw in their original encounter at the same venue in March, with the Cornishman believing himself to have been hard done by on the scorecards.

The 31-year-old earlier reigned as English champion courtesy of an eighth round stoppage of the previously unbeaten Mitchell Frearson, having lost out on point in his opening attempt at winning the belt against Tyler Denny.

Before and since his Denny setback, Pauls has remained unbeaten and his maiden title success came in 2019 when he triumphed in a Southern Area championship match against Darren Cordona, before making a successful defence against Robbie Chapman.

Pauls turned professional in December 2015 and his record currently stands at 19-1-1 (11 KOs). In December he takes on Denzel Bentley with his British title, along with the European and WBO International belts on the line. The fight will also serve as an eliminator for a shot at the WBO world middleweight title.

Denzel Bentley

“2 Sharp”

Denzel Bentley is now right back in the hunt for a WBO world title shot following on from his heroic display against the avoided champion Janibek Alimkhanuly in November 2022 over in Las Vegas. Bentley pushed the fearsome Kazakh all the way and, had he taken the fight to the champion earlier, he might not have ultimately suffered a defeat on points.

Then the proud owner of the British title belt for the second time following his defeat of the unbeaten Linus Udofia, Bentley enjoyed a successful first defence with a resounding victory over Marcus Morrison before heading to Las Vegas less than three months later to take on Alimkhanuly.

Bentley won the British crown in impressive fashion in November 2020 when he overwhelmed Mark Heffron in a rematch. Although Heffron was pulled by his corner after round four because of a swollen left eye, Bentley’s punches caused the damage and he appeared to have the upper hand against his Mancunian rival. When they had met two months earlier there had been nothing to separate the pair. All three judges’ scored the bout 95-95.

Bentley made a further, spectacular defence of his British title against the Scot Kieran Smith at the Copper Box Arena in April 2023, knocking out his opponent with just 45 seconds on the clock. But then he suffered a shock reverse in the November defending his British title against the undefeated Nathan Heaney in Manchester.

Stunning second round knockouts of both Danny Dignum and Derrick Osaze this year have put Bentley right back on the road towards world title contention.