“Good question, can you hear the last bell? I want to keep him. I think I can stop him, but regardless, I’m prepared for 12 rounds. If I see an opportunity, I take it, if not, I feel comfortable making the rounds. I don’t force you to do anything.”

As Denzel Bentley prepares for the biggest fight of his professional career to date, he imagines his opponent on the canvas as the referee counts more than ten seconds.

Felix Cash will enter the ring with the Commonwealth title hanging from his belt, but Bentley intends to leave the ring after adding the Commonwealth title to his British title.

It’s a fighting week, but “2 Piercing” came out on top proboxing-fans.com while walking down memory lane, recalling his first day at the boxing gym: “I remember it was weird. I’ve never been to a boxing gym before.

“Everyone was already training. I think I might have been delayed, everyone was a bit hostile. I thought, “Jesus, that’s a bit rude.”

“I thought, ‘Oh, I want to box’ – they asked if I could box and I said no, and they said, ‘Well, you’re delayed, the locker rooms are over there, sign your name and keep fighting.’ I think, “Will no one show me this or walk me through the session?”

It wasn’t until several months later that Denzel was trained to properly punch, pull, and weave while correcting his posture. A year later, Bentley competed for the first time as an amateur.

Under the influence of Adrien Broner and Floyd Mayweather, Denzel may have approached boxing with pound signs, but the Battersea fighter quickly realized that it wasn’t just about billions.

“[I started boxing because I thought] there’s a lot of money to be made, which is why I thought this boxing game was kind of infirmed. Broner had “On Billions” and Mayweather had a lot of stuff on YouTube and I thought, “This is infirmed,” so I got into it!

“Once you start, of course [boxing] you realize it’s far from it. This is the highest level in the sport and not everyone can have it. I just started liking it and I loved it. I just wanted to continue boxing whether I made it or not.

Denzel, now in his delayed teens and early twenties, not only liked science, he was good at it. Often praised by his peers, this motivated Bentley to pursue the career of his dreams.

“I was told I was good at it. Every time I sparred with someone they asked how many fights I had and they said, “You’re good for two fighters” and stuff like that, so I was always good in terms of the level of experience I got. had.

“I think I really wanted to take it seriously when I dropped out of college. I don’t remember what made me do it, but I dropped out of college because I wanted to do it.

“I think it was because I just watched it more and I just thought I wanted to be there, on the gigantic stage. I just thought, “I’m going to drop everything I’m doing and stick to boxing and grinding it out.”

“I studied sports science but dropped out to pursue boxing.”

Battersea may not be synonymous with boxing, but it has had links with the sport for years. Just a few years ago, the likes of David Haye and George Groves trained at the former McGuigan’s Gym location.

Go back even further and you’ll see Howard Eastman working on the roads around Battersea. The 26-year-old recently began comparing himself to Eastman, a figure he admitted he had no idea about until recently.

Denzel now praises the rise of boxing in his area and credits Carney’s Community for what it does for the community.

“They are very helpful, man. Children are energetic and need something to burn off their energy.

“Youth clubs are no longer as popular as those where there are sessions that everyone wants to take part in, boys and girls, they just want to burn some energy instead of just going to school and coming home so they don’t just bored or hanging around outside for no reason.

The determining factors for Denzel’s success are the time and strenuous work put in and continue to be put in by his parents, especially his mother, whom he considers his inspiration.

“She puts in a lot of work, she did a lot to make us the people we are today. Of course, my dad is still around, but he lives in Ghana, he also works there. They both do their best to make sure that all four of us are good, decent people.

“I saw how strenuous they worked, how strenuous they worked, and they didn’t bring me here to waste opportunities. They weren’t born here like me, the opportunities were different, especially at the time they were born.

“Now we were born in a place where everything is at your fingertips, if you put in the work you can go out there and work your ass off and it will be easier than they had to work strenuous to get it, so I can” I don’t get any slack because it’s it’s a kick in the balls for them to do all this and I have no intention of pursuing him [my goals]”

His next goal is to win the Commonwealth title and add to the British middleweight belt he already holds. This Saturday night’s opponent will be Felix Cash, who is another undefeated fighter crossing enemy lines to fight on the Queensberry Promotions show.

“I’m joyful to get this fight, I’m joyful to have another title on the line, I’m joyful to get another belt. It’s bigger than [Mark] Heffron fights and it takes me to another level.

“It helps me get recognition. All the strenuous work I had put in was finally noticed and it was finally paying off.”

After whispers that the Matchroom fighter might have chosen a different route, there were doubts whether this fight would happen, but now we are here and the fight will take place at the York Hall in Bethnal Green.

“No, honestly, I didn’t think it would happen, but it did, so I can’t complain. I thought they would go the European route, but Felix said he wanted to be British champion and wanted to take that route to keep the game fair for him.

“But it might have been a situation where they couldn’t get it [European title] fight for the line and it was still an option, but either way I don’t care how the fight happened, as long as it’s going on and it’s happening, I’m joyful with it. It’s time to shake things up, man.

A powered Bentley can accelerate from 0-60 in the blink of an eye and Denzel will be keen to take on Cash, who has defended his Commonwealth title twice, with the engine full of petrol and there will be no backing down.

“It was something you will never forget. You know what I mean? It’s just something special, and what makes it even greater is the intensity of the crowd. And then Michael Buffer makes the announcement. You can’t really explain it.”

The saying “they don’t make them like that anymore” can certainly be applied to both Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward, both fighters who threw everything in the ring a combined 100 times, including three times against each other. James Lupton revisits the pair’s notable trilogy with Hall of Famer Buddy McGirt, who coached Gatti while working on the trilogy.

The fights between the two fighters will last forever, with many considering the first fight to be the best fight ever. However, as the pair headed to the ring, no one could have expected the action that was about to unfold.

McGirt recalls standing in the corner and realizing this fight was going to be special; “[Arturo] he hit Micky Ward with that combination and Micky slammed his glove and said, “Fuck.” And I said, “It’s going to be a long night.”

Perhaps the only thing more memorable than the fights themselves are the photos and memories of Arturo lying in a hospital bed and “The Irishman” Micky Ward next to him – an iconic moment captured, frozen in time.

The pair exchanged blows, giving them a bond that remained forceful until Gatti’s death.

“I think each fight brought them closer together, not only as fighters but also as friends. And the funniest thing is that he had his last fight and Micky was training him for that last fight. McGirt told proboxing-fans.com.

When I asked Buddy why he thought these fights were fan favorites, his answer was straightforward; “because there were two guys there who were really trying… I won’t say they killed each other, but just two guys who didn’t operate anything scientific, they just go to war.”

During these fights, Gatti was part of a gym that housed substantial names such as McGirt himself, Laila Ali and Vernon Forrest within its four walls, but Arturo was a reserved figure until he gained his trust.

“Well, he didn’t trust a lot of people, but if he trusted you and liked you, he was a great guy. He was energetic and worked very demanding.”

Arturo was a fighter who liked to get into a shootout sometimes, sometimes a little too often, in Ward’s case it was often a shootout. Intrigued by the opportunity to get inside the coach’s mind, I asked McGirt if the game plan was to fight fire with fire?

“Okay, okay. I wanted him to do the same thing he did in the second fight and just blow him away. But in the third fight he broke his arm, so we had to do something different.”

“And when he got knocked down, he got up and felt it, he had to get it back. So it was quite intense.”

I immediately took a shot at Buddy and counterattacked, remembering that Gatti also broke his arm in Ward’s second fight, to which McGirt blocked me and hit me with “yeah, but he didn’t say anything in the second fight. The third fight he had.”

So now the coach found himself in a hard situation, his player reported that he had lost one of his weapons, and his hand was only fully functional. What’s next?

“Honestly, when we talked about the second fight, he said the adrenaline was flowing so much that he didn’t think about the pain.

“So I thought if in a fight I could take his mind off the hand and the way the fight was going, the intensity of the fight, the adrenaline would start flowing and he would start using it. And he did.

“The key was not to ask about his arm again after he told me it was broken.”

While McGirt believes we will soon see more trilogies in boxing “because we have a lot of good teenage fighters now”, the 57-year-old admits we won’t see anyone like Gatti-Ward again.

Buddy continues by emphasizing the importance of rematches and trilogies, recalling three trilogy contests from the past; “You have to have it because every fight should be better than the last one.

“I mean the Ali-Frazier trilogy, the first fight was the most vital because Ali was coming back.

“In the second fight, both of them were not champions. Then there was the third fight which was supposed to be over the hill but in the third fight they both put it all on the line which in my opinion was better than the first two because of the intensity and determination they both showed in the fight. this third fight at Thrilla in Manila.

“We will never see anything like this, ever.

– Not Gatti-Ward, Tarver-Jones. These two and Thrilla in Manila – you will never see such intensity and determination in a fight. Because it was a 15-round match and they put it all on the line for 15 or 14 rounds.

To end the conversation with McGirt, I asked him why don’t we see more of these types of fights, what has changed in the last 20 years?

“I think the mindset is different. I think everything is different. These were two men, Ali-Frazier, who had something extra.

“They have champions and then you have some champions who have that extra something. They had this little extra, you know what I mean? I can’t explain it, but if you watch the fight, you’ll see it.”

In a night that featured Jake Paul fighting a retired MMA fighter in Ben Askren, Snoop Dogg on commentary, and the debut of another former UFC fighter and Colombian reggaeton artist, it was surprisingly the Regis Prograis vs. Ivan Redkach clash that produced the most drama on a dramatic night in Atlanta last Saturday.

The fight between the former 140-pound champion Progress and experienced fighter Redkach was a fight on the card that was liked by die-hard boxing fans, but ended in bizarre circumstances.

“Rougarou” dominated the proceedings and after hitting the Ukrainian in the head with his left hand, Prograis fired a body shot that sent the 35-year-old to the canvas, claiming he was hit with a low blow.

Referee Jim Korb ruled that the shot was clearly above the belt line and that the low arc gave the American a technical decision victory, with “El Terrible” removed from the ring after receiving medical attention.

Understandably, a furious Prograis vented his post-fight frustration, but he got justice on Monday when the Georgia Sports and Entertainment Commission overturned the referee’s decision, giving him a sixth-round TKO victory, his second stoppage victory since his only loss to Josh Taylor by majority decision of October 2019

Reflecting on the fight, the 32-year-old believes his opponent was looking for a way out of the fight, but was pleased to have the decision overturned.

“In the last two rounds I started hitting him tough and catching him,” Prograis said proboxing-fans.com.

“I just think he wanted a way out, that’s the most significant thing. I just think he wanted to get out, he didn’t want to fight anymore and he was faking it.

“He would have won a massive Oscar for this because he was a good faker!

“He definitely wasn’t low. Even when I hit him, I knew it wasn’t low. I really never low blow anyone, even if I’m fighting an orthodox fighter or a southpaw fighter.

I just want to thank everyone who joined the fight on Saturday. It was a weird ending, but overall it was a good experience. Who do you want to see me fight next? @triller #ThrillerFightClub #rougarou 👊🏽🥊#wolfpack 🐺 pic.twitter.com/I92XNJ49UZ

— Rougarou (@RProgais) April 20, 2021

“Of course anyone can make mistakes, but I just don’t and I knew it didn’t hit him, I knew it was bullshit.”

“It was the most significant thing I wanted [the decision changing to a TKO]”

Prograis revealed that Redkach and his wife offered an apology, although the trio did not communicate in person after the fight.

This was Triller’s second gala since their inaugural exhibition between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr in November, which featured performances by Diplo, The Black Keys and Saweetie, and was won by 44-year-old former cruiserweight world champion Steve Cunningham, who came retires to defeat former UFC heavyweight Frank Mir.

During the unique and unconventional broadcast, which was met with mixed reactions online, Oscar De La Hoya made a surprise appearance and later apologized for making some bizarre comments, and Prograis stated that at times he felt the event was a bit over the top.

“I think it was too much, I won’t lie. They could do it, but not by much.

“I had to be at the arena at 6 p.m. and then I didn’t start walking [to the ring] until 11:40 p.m. or so, so I literally sit in the locker room for almost six hours, waiting and waiting and waiting.

“We saw all these bands, all these performers doing all this stuff and it was pretty loose.

“Another thing people don’t know is that Ivan’s wife kept coming into our dressing room and offering us things.

“She offered us sandwiches, food, bananas and coffee!

“She was really nice. I think this was her first time being involved in something like this and I think she worked as his assistant or something.

“But she would come and offer us things. She replied, “Yes, you know, they say you keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

“She was joking, she really enjoyed it, but it was just a different kind of experience.”

Prograis’ fight was followed by Justin Bieber’s performance, before Jake Paul stopped Ben Askren in the first round, securing his third professional victory.

Paul, who has amassed more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube, has faced widespread criticism in the boxing community, raising eyebrows during his fight week press conference when he described himself as an “elite boxer” even though his other two victories were against another sensation website at AnEsonGib in his debut before stopping former NBA star Nate Robinson.

However, the “Problem Child” with whom there is a future clash Tommy Fury attracts huge attention and fresh audiences to sports, claims on his YouTube channel that the fight generated over 1.5 million pay-per-view buys, and Prograis, who has named Adrien Broner as a potential opponent for his next fight, believes that the 24-year-old will benefit from knowing that he is having a positive impact on the sport that brings

“Even before the fight, that’s why I agreed to be on the card, because they asked: ‘Do you want to fight further?’ [the] Jake Paul [undercard]?

“Of course I will fight, he brings a different perspective to the sport. If I’m not mistaken they said the pay-per-view numbers are crazy, they’re massive numbers right now and I don’t even think they’ve tallied them all yet.

“My opinion of him hasn’t changed at all. He brings a different perspective to the sport and hey, if they can do it through a boxing match, let them do it.”

Watch the full interview below, in which Prograis reflects on his fight with Redkach, and read what he had to say about his future on our Youtube channel.