Denzel Bentley picks wondrous right uppercut to stop Derrick Osaze

Derrick Osaze was warming to the task against London middleweight Denzel Bentley but walked onto a second-round right uppercut inside a red-hot York Hall in Bethnal Green, and that was that.

After an exploratory opening session from both, Osaze was emboldened in the second and landed a flush right as he started to apply some pressure.

Bentley, the WBO’s No. 2 middleweight, was being backed up at times in the second but then, almost from nowhere, Bentley detonated a right uppercut as Osaze attacked and Osaze pitched face first on to the canvas.

Perhaps Osaze had been heartened with his success but then, with Bentley’s back to the ropes, he whipped in the uppercut that froze Osaze and then cracked his stagnant foe with a right hook and Osaze plummeted.

Bentley celebrated with trainer Martin Bowers and Osaze – who stopped a veteran Joel Julio in his last fight – tried to stand but referee John Latham waved it off.

It was a superb finish. Bentley picked a wonderful shot to close the show. Time of the stoppage was 2:27 of the second round.

Bentley is now 20-30-1 (16 KOs) while 30-year-old Osaze – from London but based in Nottingham – is 13-2 (3 KOs). He was having just his fifth fight in four years.

“That was a good punch, that was a clean shot,” said Bentley. “I thank God Derrick’s okay. Derrick’s a cool guy. A lot of people didn’t turn up [in London] because they knew both of us. Activity is the key. If I can get out one more time [in 2024], I’m happy. I’m in the gym working hard. I need to be active fighter. An active fighter is a happy fighter.”  

Bentley’s losses both came on points, to incumbent champion Janibek Alimkhanuly and Nathan Heaney.