Denzel Bentley targets Aaron McKenna and Hamzah Sheeraz after Zuffa Boxing move
The WBO middleweight champion told Metro he would move up to super-middleweight to face Sheeraz, but first faces Shane Mosley Jr on 7 November with his title status unresolved.
Denzel Bentley wants to face IBF middleweight champion Aaron McKenna next year and is prepared to move up to super-middleweight for a long-awaited fight with Hamzah Sheeraz, the WBO champion told Metro.
The Battersea fighter signed with Dana White's Zuffa Boxing at the start of October, ending eight years with Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions. He said that, despite holding a world title, he had spent a frustrating period not knowing what came next. Zuffa had shown him a range of fights it could make and opponents it was in talks with, and had promised to book him back to back.
His debut for the promotion is against Shane Mosley Jr on 7 November at the Copper Box. Bentley was ordered to defend his belt against mandatory challenger Yoenli Hernandez, but he and his team believe he is entitled to a voluntary defence against Mosley Jr, who is ranked No 6 by the WBO. He could still be stripped or forced to vacate. Bentley said that if he won the appeal and defended the title against Mosley Jr, he would be happy to fulfil his obligation to fight Hernandez.
Bentley won the interim title by beating Endry Saavedra in April and was elevated to full champion in July after Janibek Alimkhanuly relinquished the belt.
McKenna, who won the IBF title in August, is another Zuffa signing. Bentley said he told the promotion he wanted no warm-up fights as a world champion, and that McKenna had been his first choice of opponent.
Sheeraz and Bentley were on course to meet for the British title in 2023. The Ilford fighter moved up to super-middleweight last year and, also promoted by Warren, said earlier this year that he would explore a move to Zuffa when his deal expires. Bentley said weight would not stand in the way of that fight. He would not move up for the sake of it, he said, but there were good fights in the division and he would stay there once he made the move.
Bentley, who has a young son, said knowing his schedule in advance would let him spend time with his family between fights rather than staying in the gym waiting for a date, and that he felt in control of his career for the first time.
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