In a sport dominated by loud voices and sizeable egos, in which self-promotion can take you further than a jab, there is a refreshing modesty to Denzel Bentley.
“I’m not a big attraction, or the next big thing, or a massive ticket seller,” he says. “I’ve got to do it the hard way. I don’t mind that.”
Bentley headlines at York Hall on Saturday night, barely five miles from the Patmore Estate where he first put on a pair of boxing gloves as a 15-year-old.
An all-London affair against Derrick Osaze brings with it added intrigue, but Bentley's full attention will this time be on the man in the opposite corner.
The 29-year-old fell to a shock defeat against Nathan Heaney last November, an experience he now describes as a “blur”.
Bentley's son Cairo was born prematurely just a few weeks before the bout, spending 10 days in intensive care. The final stages of camp were juggled with regular trips to the hospital.
A sense of professional duty and belief he could still beat Heaney meant Bentley did not pull out, and he remained confident of victory even when hearing the final bell. Glances to those at ringside suggested that was misplaced.
“I looked around and everyone was making a face,” Bentley remembers. “‘Wait, did I just lose that fight?’ My mindset going into the fight was let’s just get this over and done with and get home.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. I was going for a knockout, I wasn’t trying to box, I wasn’t showing anything that we worked on in camp.
“Usually when I go into a fight I’m excited. It’s go time, I’m going to hurt someone, I’m going to shine tonight. That fight, it was ‘I can’t be a***d to be here’.
I’m not a big attraction, or the next big thing, or a massive ticket seller. I’ve got to do it the hard way. I don’t mind that
“All week in Manchester, doing the media, the weigh-in... I just wanted to be with my family.”
Why did he did not reveal the circumstances surrounding the defeat after the fight, or indeed for the next six months?
“Because it just looks like I’m making excuses,” Bentley explains. “And I don’t want to blame the birth of my son for losing a fight. ‘Why were you born bro?’ It’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?”
Cairo is now healthy and Bentley returned to the ring with his name on his shorts in a second-round win over Danny Dignum in May. The middleweight is ranked No2 with the WBO and a laborious rebuild is not necessary.
The man holding that world title is Janibek Alimkhanuly, well-known to Bentley if not to those beyond boxing’s hardcore followers.
Bentley stepped up at short notice to challenge for Alimkhanuly’s WBO belt in Las Vegas two years ago and produced an impressive performance in defeat, the only man to go the distance with the Kazakh in the last five years.
The three weeks before the fight were spent training at Floyd Mayweather’s gym, accompanied by regular reminders that Bentley was now seated at boxing’s top table.
“I’m in Vegas, going to the gym and I can see my face on billboards - that’s mental,” he says. “It was a crazy experience. The aim is to get back there and stay there next time.”
Alimkhanuly has previously claimed Chris Eubank Jr is “running” from him, an accusation that cannot be levelled at Bentley as he plots his path to a rematch.
“I feel like with a little bit more experience I could have beaten him, and now I have that little bit more experience,” he says.
There are steps Bentley must take first, starting with victory over Osaze. Should that be ticked off, domestic showdowns against Eubank Jr or stablemate Hamzah Sheeraz could become options.
Bentley has in the build-up to this bout had little interest in discussing Eubank Jr, a man “trying to get retirement money”, but there is a wider point on what motivates fighters to step into the ring.
“Listen, a lot of guys in this sport don’t really want to fight,” Bentley says. “They want to make money. They want to find a way [to the top] without going through the hardship. If you can do that, then cool.
“People like to manufacture their careers and look like they are something that they’re not, until they come up against someone, get beaten and go missing for ages. I just enjoy fighting, that’s all it is really.”
There must, though, be an obvious appeal to chasing financial reward in such a tough sport. How is that balanced with the pursuit of belts?
“Once I win a world title, it might all just be money for me,” Bentley says. "For now, this is the route I need to take.
“Everyone wants money. I would have stayed amateur if I didn’t want to get paid. But at the end of day, I want to be a world champion. Money comes with that.”
Bentley fills his fight week evenings watching boxing highlights on YouTube. A seventh bout in a little over two years suggests spells away from the gym are limited, but time is still made for punditry work. This is more than a job.
“When I hear fighters say they don’t really watch boxing or they’re not fans, I get confused,” Bentley says. “I couldn’t do it if I didn’t love it this much.”
