Saturday night at York Hall sees Denzel Bentley top the bill, and the Battersea man puts his WBO International middleweight title on the line against Derrick Osaze over a scheduled ten rounds.
TNT Sports televise Bentley vs Osaze the UK, and Frank Warren’s Queensberry promote.
Bentley (19-3-1, 16 KOs) has had an up-and-down three years since winning the British title in November 2020 with a fourth round win against Mark Heffron.
The 29-year-old would lose that belt in his first defence, halted in three by Felix Cash, but then regained the vacant title by taking a split decision against Linus Udofia in May 2022.
Two successful defences were sandwiched between a spirited points loss in a bid for the WBO world title against now-unified champion, Janibek Alimkhanuly in November 2022, but he then shipped his Lonsdale Belt in an upset majority reverse to Nathan Heaney last November.
‘2 Sharp’ did return in May, and was back to his destructive best, stopping Danny Dignum in the second round to take the vacant WBO fringe title he defends this weekend.
Osaze (13-1, 3 KOs) has been largely inactive in recent times, and has failed to build on his Ultimate BOXXER tournament win in 2019.
After nearly two years out, the 30-year-old was outscored by Tyler Denny in June 2021, and although he has won three straight contests since, they have all been against journeymen, and he hasn’t gone beyond six rounds.
Osaze was last seen in March, stopping Joel Julio in three in Bulgaria.
Prediction: Bentley is very hard-hitting, and with Osaze rusty, I think Bentley can jump on this, and take victory within the first four rounds.
Aloys Junior tops undercard
The other ten rounder sees Aloys Junior (7-1, 7 KOs) go for his first professional title, as he meets Oronzo Birardi for the vacant IBO Continental cruiserweight strap.
Since losing on debut by a single point against Michal Soczynski, ’The Animal’ has won his last seven, all inside the distance.
The last five have come by knockout, with the most recent a fourth round win against Pablo Oscar Natalio Farias in April.
Birardi (8-0, 6 KOs) also carries power, but had to go the distance in his last bout, an eight round points win against Milans Volkovs in May.
Prediction: This could be a shootout, but Aloys has been impressive to date, and I favour him to get the stoppage win.
Remaining Undercard
The sole eight rounder is at super welterweight, where Ben Fail (6-0, 5 KOs) can pick up another early win, this time against Omir Rodriguez (15-19-1, 6 KOs).
In six rounders, Joshua Frankham (9-0, 2 KOs) has his first outing of 2024, and the super welterweight should outscore Artjom Spatar (4-9-1, 1 KO).
At super featherweight, Billy Adams (3-0) can also win on the cards against Marvin Solano (24-18, 8 KOs) and William Hamilton (5-0, 3 KOs) should get the better of Perry Howe (5-16-1, 1 KO) inside schedule in their heavyweight clash.
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A trio of debutants fill the four rounder slots.
Mason Payne should take his welterweight contest with John Henry Mosquera (5-16, 1 KO) on points, and Frankie Wood should do the same against Engel Gomez (8-34-3, 4 KOs) at super featherweight.
Mykyle Ahmed will likely need the distance to get the win at super flyweight against Stephen Jackson (1-52-1, 1 KO).
