Denzel Bentley admits his first fight with Mark Heffron was a blessing in disguise and intends to win their British middleweight title rematch by knockout on Friday.
Bentley meets Heffron in an eagerly-anticipated rematch on Friday live on BT Sport, following their unanimous draw eight weeks ago.
The pair were both certain they had done enough to win their September clash, however with the Lonsdale belt now on the line following Liam Williams’ decision to vacate, Bentley says the draw has worked in his favour.
“In a weird way the draw done me better than the win would have,” Bentley told proboxing-fans.com.
“So, I’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and enjoy it while I can so I would loved to have got the win, I would have preferred the win, but if I did get the win I wouldn’t be fighting for the British title right now and headlining my own show.
“So, I guess it’s worked out for the better and this time I’ve got to make it count if I want to stay where I am.”
The 25-year-old dropped his rival in the second round, but former British title challenger, Heffron rallied back.
And Bentley, who has 11 knockouts from his 13 victories believes he is capable of taking the decision out of the judges hands, although he does not think he requires a knockout to win the fight.
Asked for his prediction, Bentley added: “Stoppage win from me.
“I wasn’t trying to stop him last time.
“I need to win it convincingly. I don’t think I need to stop him to win, I think I can still outbox him and win, but I think I can stop him if I push a bit more.”
Watch the full interview below, where Bentley discusses sparring heavyweights including Daniel Dubois, gives his Terence Crawford-Kell Brook prediction and discusses a potential Teofimo Lopez-Gervonta Davis clash:
