Denzel Bentley ready to ‘risk’ title ambitions against Derrick Osaze

Denzel Bentley knows that he will be taking a risk when he fights Derrick Osaze at London’s York Hall on Saturday night, but the former world-title challenger believes it is exactly the type of test he needs as he prepares himself for another run at the highest level.

The two-time British middleweight champion, 19-3-1 (16 KOs), sits at number two in the WBO middleweight rankings, just behind his domestic rival and Queensberry stablemate Hamzah Sheeraz.

Who knows where Bentley would be had he not been upset by Nathan Heaney in November 2023, but don’t expect the 29 year old from Battersea to spend a single second thinking about what could have been. There is also next to no chance of him lacking focus against Osaze, 13-1 (3 KOs).

The defeat by Heaney was heartbreaking at the time but the lessons Bentley was forced to absorb could serve him well for the remainder of his career. Bentley was taught exactly what can go wrong when he becomes distracted.

In May he rebounded with an emphatic stoppage of Danny Dignum, and he sees Osaze, 30, as the next obstacle between him and his ultimate goal – and his fellow Londoner as a legitimate threat.

“He’s a good fighter,” Bentley said at Thursday’s press conference. “He won the Ultimate Boxxer. You don’t win those tournaments if you can’t fight. I’m prepared and I’m ready to go on Saturday

“I’m looking at him as a dangerous opponent. I know what he brings and I know what kind of mindset he’s in. I know he really wants to come and take this opportunity. Like he’s said, it’s his time isn’t it? I’m not looking at it as a step anywhere apart from the step I need to be taking.”

Considering Bentley’s high ranking, a fight with somebody like Osaze could be seen as unnecessary. Bentley regardless isn’t the type to sit and wait for an opportunity to be handed to him. From the very start of his career he has taken every opportunity to push himself forwards, and experience has taught him that he improves when he is driven through training by the threat of a challenge rather than ticking over day after day and waiting for the ideal scenario to unfold. 

“It’s my job,” he continued. “I’m a fighter. I’m a boxer. When people ask me what I do, I tell them I box. I don’t like turning down fights or not wanting to fight this person or that person. I don’t really fear no one. It’s a fair fight. If it gets too rough the ref says, ‘Break’ so what’s there to be scared of? I can’t fear another man who’s put in the same work as me.

“[Fighters who prefer to sit on the sidelines] are just there for the aesthetics. They’re not there for what it says on the tin. They don’t do what they’re meant to. That’s why when you see a lot of fighters who are inactive, they complain. You’re not taking what’s there. I’m not saying you have to but it is part of the job.

“There isn’t a fight that I’ve turned down. I’ve taken a loss and come back stronger. I’m relentless. I’m stubborn. I ain’t achieved what I want to in the sport so the journey is still continuing.”

Osaze is a determined, slightly unorthodox fighter who was good enough to beat the decent Keiron Conway on his way to winning a one-night Boxxer tournament but who lost to the European champion Tyler Denny when stepping up to championship level in 2021. He is trying not to think about where a shock victory on Saturday night could take him, and is concentrating on what he knows is a difficult task. 

“It’s just another fight isn’t it?” Osaze said. “It’s 10 rounds. There’s two people in there with two hands, two legs and we’re going to throw punches. We’re gonna hit and not be hit and that’s what’s going to happen.

“To be honest, Denzel’s done well. I haven’t got anything bad to say about what he’s achieved in his career. Massive respect to him but at the end of the day, that’s not gonna matter when we get in the ring. It’s gonna be me and Denzel. The bell’s gonna go and there’s gonna be a winner.

“I’m confident. I wouldn’t have taken this fight if I wasn’t confident. God bless us both and the best man will win on Saturday.

“A lot of people talk about the Boxxer tournament. For me, that was a long time ago. It was a great achievement but I always said it wasn’t the pinnacle; it was a stepping stone. The plan has always been to push on and progress from here. 

“The last few years of my career haven’t gone as planned but I can have loads of plans; the man upstairs has other plans. He knew I’d end up at this table today. Irrespective of the past, it’s the past.”

As deserving as Osaze is of the opportunity, the evening is set up for Bentley to prove that he is once again on course for a shot at a world title.

The in-form Sheeraz and Denny meet at Wembley Stadium on September 21 but Bentley is purely focused on his own career. He knows that he can control his own destiny by performing to his potential, and is now all too aware that he can derail his own future if he allows his attention to drift.

“I don’t really care what happens,” he said. “I give Tyler credit for getting to this stage. He’s done it the hard way like a lot of us. I couldn’t really care less. I’ll just be watching as a fan.

“I’m number two with the WBO. A fight with Derrick, I didn’t even need to take. I feel like these fights are going to prepare me for whatever is next. It’s only gonna get harder. Nothing is going to come easy. 

“I’m praying that I get another world-title shot. I’ve just got to keep doing my part and whatever happens next, happens next. My manager Martin [Bowers] and Frank [Warren] do their part but they can’t do their job unless I do mine. I’ve gotta do mine on Saturday and whatever they come up with next is what they come up with.”