Carlos Adames, who drew with Hamzah Sheeraz, faces Gerome Warburton on Saturday
The WBC middleweight champion meets the Welshman in a non-title bout at a 165lb catchweight on Saturday, while former WBO champion Bentley names Adames and IBF titlist Aaron McKenna as his targets.
Post by @SkySportsBoxing on X
WBC middleweight world champion Carlos Adames fights Wales' Gerome Warburton on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Mix from 4pm, in a non-title bout at a 165lb catchweight as he tunes up for major title fights next year.
Warburton, a former Welsh champion, has not fought at Adames' level before, and an upset would take him to the elite end of the division. He goes into the fight off back-to-back wins over Nathan Heaney, the former British champion who beat Denzel Bentley before Bentley went on to win a world title.
Adames is unbeaten at middleweight, with wins over Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Julian Williams, Terrell Gausha and Austin Williams. He also drew with Hamzah Sheeraz.
Bentley, who was stripped of his WBO title before his recent victory over Shane Mosley Jr, wants to become a world champion again and is targeting fights in 2027 with Adames and IBF titlist Aaron McKenna. He said he was ready to return early next year, adding: “I'd love another world title shot. McKenna or Adames, seeing as those are the two middleweights who are at this [Zuffa Boxing] stable with us and they are world champions. Those two are my priority.” Bentley congratulated Warburton on landing the fight and described him as a good, slick boxer, but said the Welshman did not carry the power to keep Adames off him. He said that although he would rather see Warburton go the distance: “Adames gets him out of there, pretty early if I'm being honest.” He expects Adames to win and be in position to defend against him in 2027. Bentley said that if Adames came through his mandatory early next year, the pair could meet around or shortly after the summer, and he was prepared to sit out until then for the right fight: “I'll be happy to wait till after the summer, if it's guaranteed [to be] Adames. If it's not, then I'd like to get out early next year. But if it could be him I'd be happy to wait for that.”
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