Linus Udofia vs Denzel Bentley – Results & Post-Fight Report

The main event for the Wasserman Boxing promoted card at the Indigo inside the O2 Arena in London saw Denzel Bentley take the vacant British middleweight title with a tight split decision win over Linus Udofia.

Bentley had briefly reigned as British champion previously, when he forced Mark Heffron to retire in their rematch, but he shipped the belt in his first defence when he was halted in three by Felix Cash last April. Udofia had previously held the English strap, and came into this one unbeaten in 17 paid contests.

Bentley was on the offensive from the opening bell, landing with sharp shots, but Udofia landed with a nice looping right hand, and the first frame was pretty much even. Udofia began the second well, landing with an uppercut and he was putting his punches together well as he dominated the session, but Bentley regrouped well, dragging Udofia into his kind of fight in round three as the pair unloaded with big punches. After a much quieter fourth, Bentley clubbed away at his opponent in the fifth, and the pair were evenly matched in the sixth. With the bout going into the second half, the pair looked to tire, but Bentley found a second wind to fire off a two fisted attack that clinched the seventh.

Towards the end of the eighth, Bentley landed with a chopping right hand that briefly forced Udofia’s knee to touch the canvas, but it wasn’t seen by the referee, and Bentley continued to attack. Udofia was fading, and every time he was pinned to he ropes, Bentley would unload and hurt him, and he sensed the opportunity to finish the job. As the championship rounds arrived, Udofia found a second wind, and steadied the ship with a decent tenth, which preceded a scrappy penultimate round. The fight looked up for grabs, and the final round looked as though the former champion had shaded it as the fight went to the cards.

Tallies of 115-113 and 116-112 in favour of Bentley overruled a 115-114 card for Udofia.

WATCH: Denzel Bentley’s post-fight reaction and interview with Oun-Abbas Hussain:

Josh Kelly was last seen being overwhelmed by David Avanesyan in six rounds last February, and he suffered more misery here, as his contest with Xhuljo Vrenozi was cancelled at the last possible minute. No official reason was given, however, there were rumours that the visitor had extra financial demands after coming in overweight yesterday.

Harlem Eubank continues to impress, and his latest win was an eye catching one punch knockout win over Sean ‘Masher’ Dodd in the second round of their scheduled ten at super lightweight. Eubank countered Dodd to perfection, landing with a massive left hook that signalled the end of the fight.

The British title eliminator at middleweight went the way of Brad Pauls, as he took a ten round split decision victory over Ryan Kelly in an absorbing contest. Scores of 96-94 and 96-95 were good enough for ’The Newquay Bomb’ to take the win, rendering Terry O’Connor’s puzzling 97-93 scorecard in Kelly’s favour redundant.

Harvey Horn was stunned with a stoppage defeat last time out, the first defeat of his career, but he rebounded here with a six round points win over Alejandro Torres at flyweight. Horn took a 60-54 verdict from the referee.

Welterweight prospect Constantin Ursu made it 5-0, dropping Borja Lopez twice on the way to a four round points win. Lopez was down from body shots in the first and third frames.

Katharina Thanderz came back from an unsuccessful challenge at world honours in her last fight, taking a points win at super lightweight over six against Tereza Dvorakova.

Razor Ali remained unbeaten, as he took a 60-54 win over six rounds against Khvicha Gigolashvili.