Denzel Bentley faces Brad Pauls for the British middleweight title and our Chris Oliver previews the action.
Boxing betting tips: Saturday December 7
2pts Denzel Bentley to win by stoppage at 17/10 (Betfair, Paddy Power)
1pt Sam Noakes to win in rounds 7-12 at 7/4 (Sky Bet)
A fascinating main event tops the bill on the latest of Queensberry’s ‘Magnificent 7’ shows at the Wembley Arena on Saturday.
Denzel Bentley (20-3-1) is a slight 7/10 favourite to reclaim the British middleweight title against Brad Pauls (6/4), but he would have been much shorter if this had taken place in the summer of last year.
Bentley’s stock rose dramatically when he went to Las Vegas and gave world number one Zhanibek Alimkhanuly a hard 12 rounds in their WBO title clash in late 2022. He returned with a one-round blow-out of Kieran Smith in April 2023, just two months after Pauls was widely outpointed by Tyler Denny in his first defeat, and nobody would have wanted to see this contest at that time.
However, with his sights set on a return to the world scene, Bentley took his eye off the ball and lost his British title via a shock majority decision to underdog Nathan Heaney a year ago. Heaney then drew with Pauls before the latter dominated and stopped the champion in the 12th round of their rematch in July, and now there is plenty of interest in this bout, which has the vacant European title on the line as well.
Having beaten the man who beat Bentley, logic would suggest Pauls will prevail here, but boxing mathematics is rarely that simple and there are other factors to consider.
Firstly, Bentley appeared to underestimate Heaney and never got going, as he loaded up on his shots too much and neglected his jab. Also, styles make fights and the tall, rangy Heaney who boxed Bentley on the back foot is a very different test to Pauls, who is stockier and likes to come forward.
Bentley has bounced back with two early victories, reminding everyone how hard he hits with second-round stoppages of both Danny Dignum and Derrick Osaze, but the Londoner is likely to face a sterner test this weekend.
Pauls (19-1-1) has improved no end in his four outings since losing to Denny and arrives full of confidence. ‘The Newquay Bomb’ carries good power himself and applies constant pressure, with the engine to maintain that over 12 rounds.
If Bentley isn’t at his best, then there is a good chance that he could be outworked by the busy champion, but I think he learned his lesson against Heaney and, with the winner set to become mandatory for the WBO strap, he will be bang up for this one.
Pauls will be marching forward from the off and while he may have success, he isn’t hard to find and that could be ideal for the heavy-handed favourite. The feet of Pauls aren’t the quickest and, in his eagerness to get close, I can see him walking onto a big right hand from Bentley at some point.
Pauls is dangerous with his hooks but as he looks to land those wide shots, he could be open to the sharp, straight shots of Bentley and he may not be able to take too many of those. As a result, I fancy Bentley’s power to be the deciding factor and for him to get the 18th stoppage of his career at 17/10.
CLICK HERE to back Bentley by stoppage with Sky Bet
All eyes on Okolie, but Sam is the man
The TNT Sports-televised card also features the heavyweight and Queensberry debut of Lawrence Okolie. The Hackney man is a former cruiserweight (and bridgerweight) world champion, and all eyes will be on him against Hussein Muhammed to see if his power carries up to his new division.
David Adeleye hasn’t been seen since losing his British heavyweight title to Fabio Wardley (TKO7) in Riyadh 13 months ago and he looks to have a tricky assignment on his hands as he returns against the unbeaten Solomon Dacres.
In perhaps the fight of the night, there should be no shortage of action as Sam Noakes defends his British and Commonwealth lightweight titles against popular veteran Ryan Walsh.
Noakes (1/12) made waves on the domestic scene by stopping all of his first 13 opponents, before being taken the full 12 rounds by the teak-tough Yvan Mendy in April. However, he won every round in capturing the European title and will have learned a lot that night, which seemed to be the case as he looked more mature when forcing Gianluca Ceglia to retire after eight rounds in September.
Walsh (29-4), who has been around and seen it all, earned this shot with a stunning first-round victory over Reece Mould just a couple of months ago. He comes to fight and has never been stopped, but all of his best work was down at featherweight, and he has been inactive in recent years.
Noakes is likely to be too young, fresh and big for Walsh (10/1) and he is only 1/2 to justify favouritism by stoppage. The challenger won’t be an easy nut to crack, though, and possibly knows enough to last until the second half of the fight, with Noakes taken to overwhelm his man to win in rounds 7-12 at 7/4.
CLICK HERE to back Noakes in rounds 7 to 12 with Sky Bet
Posted at 1220 GMT on 06/12/24
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