It’s been 111 years since the interestingly named Thomas Thomas began the inaugural reign as British middleweight champion, but this Saturday night Frank Warren is throwing us back in time with a dust up worthy of the early 20th century.
Champion Denzel ‘2Sharp’ Bentley (13-0 12ko’s) takes on challenger and Commonwealth champion Felix Cash (13-0 9ko’s) in a much anticipated showdown. When two undefeated prospects from rival promotional outfits, with exciting styles and compelling backstories meet for the ever desired Lord Lonsdale belt, there’s bound to be fireworks.
Bentley, the champion, comes into this fight with both the momentum and the promotional backing, performing once again under the watchful eye of boxing’s old school Don, Frank Warren. In his last outing he headlined a Queensbury promotions card at the BT Sport Studios, rematching the durable Mark Heffron. Despite the first clash being a very close affair that ended in a draw, Bentley seemed to rise to the occasion.
Punch perfect from the opening bell ‘2Sharp’ embodied his moniker landing a series of laser accurate right hands to the left hand side of Mark Hefforns face. The subsequent swelling was absolutely horrendous and a lesser man than Heffron wouldn’t have made it as long as he did, but ultimately it was Bentley that took home the prize. In victory his stock rose and Bentley promptly took his belt on a tour of his ancestral home of Ghana, taking a pilgrimage to visit Africa’s greatest living boxer, Azumah Nelson.
Felix Cash, the challenger, has also had extreme faith placed in his skills. He, like Bentley, was trusted to headline one of the big ‘behind closed doors’ events. His turn came in Eddie Hearns back garden as he headlined the third ‘Fight Camp’ event against the ever durable Jason Welborn for the Commonwealth title.
Although Cash had a point deducted in the fifth round for punching below the belt, he went on to win by TKO in the final 30 seconds of the round after Welborn's corner threw in the towel following two brutal knockdowns.He showed marked improvement in this fight, demonstrating the hard work he and trainer Tony Simms have been putting in to round out his game.
As they both have surging momentum, big recent wins, a title belt and an undefeated record the natural comparison then becomes their styles, ahead of saturday's clash.
Bentley is a power puncher with a rapidly improving set of skills. Training out of the infamous Peacock gym in east London, he has been refining the delivery of what is undeniable natural talents. In his last bout he used a modified Philly shell type system using his rear hand to parry jabs and retaliate over the top, something the great Andre Ward made his trademark. As well as working as a weapon it also allows ‘2Sharp’ to use his lead hand in a variety of jabbing and hooking attacks,
Cash has a more traditional approach, stalking his opponents with a high guard and varying the levels of his attacks to force an opening. This output to both head and body allows the Chertsey native to find holes in his opponent's game, upsetting their rhythm and imposing his own pace on the fight.
When you consider this fight, Liam Williams rebounding from his unsuccessful world title Challenge, and Chris Eubank Jr and Marcus Morrison doing battle, it is an exciting time to be a British middleweight. However you see this fight, and whatever camp you’re in, this is absolutely not a fight to be ignored. A superstar will be born on Saturday, moving past the domestic ranks and beginning to eye bigger prizes.
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