WHEN Nathan Heaney’s hand was raised at the Manchester Arena last November, the world went blurry for a moment for Denzel Bentley.

The Londoner was the clear favorite to retain the British middleweight title against the popular challenger from Stoke, but after 12 rounds in Manchester the belt was gone and Bentley’s career suffered its biggest ever setback.

There was no doubt that he wasn’t at the races that night, and the immediate question was, “Why?” This was a man who had mowed down many other domestic opponents, but he simply could not impress the inspired and spirited Heaney.

Bentley hinted at problems behind the scenes, suggested he didn’t want to be in Manchester at all this week, but didn’t want to make excuses. He didn’t want to dim the glow of Heaney’s crowning glory by revealing what had happened in the weeks leading up to the fight.

The truth, however, is that his world was rocked as training camp reached its most crucial stage, and in this exclusive interview with Boxing News, Bentley revealed how the premature birth of his first son sent him through the most arduous period of his career.

“So I was at camp, I had a fight, everything was ready, everything was fine, and my lady was pregnant,” Bentley recalled. “The baby was supposed to be born in the last week of November, but it was born six weeks earlier. That means I’ve been deep in camp for the last three or four weeks.

“But he was so early, he wasn’t vigorous. He was in intensive care, his lungs weren’t fully developed because he was so early. It came suddenly, three days after the baby shower, boom, it came.

“I was in hospital and was told that if they left him for half an hour he could die. I thought, “This is mental.” Right now my brain is fried, but this fight is coming up so I’m trying to find the balance between being a father, helping the lady and everything else preparing for the fight. Everyone tells me I have to fight even though everything else is happening. But I didn’t want to miss a moment.”

This meant that Bentley lived solely off hospital food and stress, hoping that if he could just make the weight, he would be able to carry himself to victory no matter what. But Heaney had other ideas.

“For me, it was gym, hospital, home, gym, hospital, home for the last three weeks of camp, the most critical weeks,” Bentley adds.

“Now I’m going to Manchester and I can’t see my son. All I can think about is whether he’s okay or not, what does the midwife say? How is my lady? So when I said I was in Manchester but I didn’t want to be there, I really didn’t want to be there.

“In my mind I thought I was going to win this fight and then explain everything because it was very arduous and it was something I hadn’t gone through before. But when I didn’t hear a nod, I thought I’d keep my mouth shut and not make excuses.

“I took a step back and held that loss for as long as I needed to, but now I’m back on track and I can explain it a little better.”

Ultimately, Bentley lost by majority decision in one of the biggest upsets in the British ring all year. However, a lot has changed in these 11 months; Heaney lost the belt to Brad Pauls and Bentley got back on track with two second-round knockout wins at York Hall over Danny Dignum and then Derrick Osaze. And after a hazardous birth, Bentley’s son, who is now approaching his first birthday, is completely vigorous and content.

“It’s all right now,” Bentley says with a broad smile. “He’s content, he’s in a good place and I see the little things about him, his laugh and stuff, so it’s pretty now. He sleeps well… or at least I sleep well, so I really don’t know. His mom does a good job of letting me sleep and continue training.

“Being in the gym and accepting the circumstances I was in, and being with my son and knowing that everything was OK, still put me in a better place. When I trained later, I realized I was enjoying it and the loss wasn’t so bad.

“I needed these two performances and I wanted them to be just that – vicious and explosive. I’m content with how they went and to be sincere, I didn’t expect any of them to go that swift, but I needed explosive performances and I got them.

“I just had to show that the loss I suffered was just a bump in the road because of my situation, and now that I’ve been through it, I can produce performances like that. The two wins put me back in my position and I proved to myself that I should be competing at a higher level and that’s what I’m getting back to.

The nature of his victories certainly suggests that the man who pushed Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in a 12-round race in 2022 is ready for world class performance again despite his defeat to Heaney on November 18. This reignited the clamor for Bentley to face another top British middleweight, Hamzah Sheeraz.

The pair have been heavily linked in 2022 and 2023, and a win over Heaney could well set up a showdown with Sheeraz for the British title. The fighter from Ilford is currently the European champion with a record of 21-0, 17 KOs and is considered one of the most promising fighters in the division.

However, like Bentley, he is promoted by Frank Warren, and the Queensberry boss recently told Boxing News that he is ready to fight the pair this year, and a place at the gala scheduled for December 21, headlined by Oleksandr Usyk against Tyson Fury, he believes considered possible.

Bentley says: “I am No. 2 in the WBO and Hamzah is No. 1. It makes sense. I don’t think I’m too far away from a shot at the world title. I think I’m in a good position now and I’m thinking about winning the world title next.

“If this doesn’t happen with Hamzah, everything will be on his side. I called for it, I said I would do it next time before my last four or five fights, but he’s come a long way, climbing the rankings and everything. I can accept it and appreciate it, but now we are number 1 and number 2, we are just interrupting each other. I think this is the only natural fight that could happen next. If that doesn’t happen, I think he’ll try to find a reason to avoid it, but I’m willing to go through Hamzah to get to the world title.

“This is the division calling for someone to come and take it over. Hamzah probably feels the same way, that he’s the guy to do it. I feel like it’s wide open wherever you go; Erislandy Lara is a great champion, although he is 41 years ancient. Carlos Adames is a good player, but I think he is beatable. Janibek has two belts, but what does he do now? Will it be demolished? Will he get promoted? Either way, it’s wide open and I’m ready for any call.”

Given his sadness in the weeks following the defeat to Heaney, which even included thoughts of retirement, Bentley’s turnaround is further evidence of how quickly things can change in boxing. He also knows that he may be one step away from gaining money that will change his and his family’s life.

“If I do this right, everything will be sorted for him forever,” Bentley says of his son. “I brought him into this world, he didn’t ask me, so I have to secure his future. I want him to have a nice life where he doesn’t struggle and doesn’t have to do the things I had to do to get by.

“Now everything depends on me and everything is clear in my head.”

JAKE Paul radically changed Amanda Serrano’s life. There are no more miserable and disgustingly low paychecks. Serrano and Katie Taylor just shared the richest women’s fighting purse ever.

Significantly higher than what they earned in 2022 at Madison Square Garden. And that payday was unfathomable. Without Jake Paul, we probably wouldn’t have seen a single Taylor/Serrano fight, let alone two.

A reported 50 million households watched their brutal rematch on Netflix on Friday night. Over 72,000 fans came to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Not everyone would have watched Taylor and Serrano exchange blows for twenty pulsating minutes. But it would be enough.

Other fighters, at a different level, would obviously benefit financially from being in the Most Valuable Promotions stable. Jake Paul deserves credit for all of the above. We should praise him for this. Paul showed the established ones how to do this. It even embarrassed them.

But if we’re going to criticize the YouTube sensation on his resume, that’s where the applause should end. Honestly, Paul should be ashamed of himself. Even shame. We should boo him. And extremely clamorous. If his intention is to march on and become world champion, he has failed. If the goal is gigantic WWE-style events, that’s a completely different conversation.

“I plan on doing everything there is to do in this sport,” Paul says. But what exactly does this mean? I wonder if even he knows for sure.

Basketball players, candlestick makers, newborn and vintage. Pulling “players” in other sports from their retirement homes. Jake Paul is part of a grand illusion. A magic trick that everyone knows and sees. We can all see what’s going on. How it works.

But in different ways, we all buy a ticket to see it happen. It’s a great boxing robbery in which we are all too willing accomplices. Jake Paul doesn’t have to wear a mask. It doesn’t have to. We all know what it is, who it is, but we watch it anyway. He takes us for fools because that’s what we are. Where is the curiosity if we know exactly what will happen? Jake Paul doesn’t care. Apparently neither do we.

58-year-old Mike Tyson played his role. You can’t blame him for that. But you can blame Jake Paul and the Texas commission that approved this whole pathetic carnival. It’s more than cynicism. A shameful act intended to feed an already over-inflated ego. It’s an vintage rule, but the ego is well established in a sport that allows it to develop. Tyson was who he was always meant to be. Paul knew this. Truth be told, we’ve all done it. Yet we all gave away our money and invested our precious time.

Paul is laughing at us now. All the way to the bank. You could say he’s been laughing at us since he started his boxing adventure less than five years ago. He knows what he’s doing. And he does it brilliantly. At least that’s what we have to give him.

Tyson’s best shot was a slight punch and tickle at the weigh-in. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Tyson stayed the course. Paul, despite his post-fight words that he didn’t want to hurt Tyson, simply wasn’t good enough to finish the fight before the final bell. This could have been an absolute train wreck. This could have ended very badly indeed. But they almost succeeded. By the way, that’s not a reason to celebrate.

Jake Paul can look back at his accomplishments and smile when he sees Mike Tyson’s name on his resume. But he didn’t beat Mike Tyson. Certainly not in the truest and most honorable way. Jake Paul just beat up a one-legged vintage man. It wasn’t about anything more than that, and frankly, to suggest otherwise is insulting.

The crowd, whose enthusiasm quickly waned as they belatedly realized they had been cheated out of their hard-earned money, booed at what they were served. But were they just booing themselves for buying into the land of pretense? I have no sympathy. We got what we all deserved. Even those of us who strongly disapproved of it continued to watch it.

Tyson looked vintage because he is, at least in a boxing sense. However, Paul once again showed his limitations in the boxing ring. He’s just not that good. Even in his delusional state, Paul must know this too.

We must remember that Tommy Fury, who currently resides in the Misfits entertainment world, defeated Paul not too long ago. For context, Fury was ranked outside the top 20 cruiserweights in his homeland at the time. And then I barely beat KSI. This is the level Jake Paul is at.

Friday night’s extravaganza had a Wrestlemania feel. I wondered if Mr. T and Hulk Hogan would attack the ring at some point. It was such a night. It was an undoubted financial success, but I wonder how many more nights like this Jake Paul can have. The reason so many came out and tuned in was because of Mike Tyson.

Without a presence like Tyson, who can probably replicate what we have in Texas. Perhaps Conor McGregor will be tempted. It certainly fits the selection process. Older, smaller and from a different sport. But in the end, the so-called YouTube sensation will have to choose someone his height and someone his own age, and a fighter who poses a real threat to him.

When that happens, Jake Paul will learn that even boxing can only tolerate so many complicated illusions. There’s only so much you can get away with. At some point this will be discovered and boxing may return to something like normality. At least until the next circus comes to town. And so it will happen.

AFTER a few complex months, Glenn McCrory is smiling again.

It looks like Carrying David – the uplifting story of how McCrory’s terminally ill brother inspired him to become a world champion – will soon hit the huge screen.

“We are very close to achieving this goal,” said the former IBF cruiserweight champion, recently cleared of all charges after a lengthy court case.

“Last week I had two days of meetings about the film.

“We need to find some more funding and then we will do it. We hope to start shooting in February.”

McCrory took a break from his comments and explained, “I need to focus on this for a while.

“It’s been a bumpy ride down and now I want to get back up.”

He said Carrying David is “more of a ‘Rocky’ story than ‘Rocky himself,'” and it’s secure to say that anyone who has read his autobiography or seen the stage adaptation of his story will be touched by its warmth.

“There has never been a world champion – or even a world title challenger – from the Northeast before,” said McCrory, who is celebrating his 60th birthday.vol birthday this month.

“For me, the biggest reason was that the area was crazy about football. Unless you’re from here, it’s demanding to understand the passion for Newcastle United and Sunderland football clubs. Football outshines everything.

“The first professional boxing show I went to was on the bill!

“There were programs in the North East but they never made headlines. It was always football, football, football. . .

“I started in the heavyweight division, but I was never in the heavyweight division. It was so complex. I lost fights and was written off in my 20s. This only strengthened my determination to succeed. This complex start helped me.

“But since I wasn’t working with a huge promoter, it was demanding to push me.”

McCrory went to the States to spar with Mike Tyson and recalls: “I gave him a black eye and that got me more publicity than any fight ever had!

“Mike Marley wrote all about the great Irishman who punched Mike Tyson on the back page of the Up-to-date York Post. It was an exaggeration – but it didn’t bother me!”

McCrory returned home and began to build his career, starting on the right side of the bill.

“Frank Warren tried to strengthen Andy Straughan but I beat him, then Chisanda Mutti for the Commonwealth title and Tee Jay,” he said.

“I wasn’t the favorite in any of these fights. I’ve always been against it.

“I got a call from Cedric Kushner and he told me, ‘You have your world title fight – but it’s against [Patrick] Lumumba.

He had about 300 amateur fights, lost six or seven, and the only reason he didn’t fight more professionally was because no one wanted to fight him.

“I knew he had sparred with Mike Tyson and was doing well.

“Before the fight with me, he told everyone that after beating me and defending his cruiserweight title several times, he was after Tyson. That’s how confident he was.

“For a while we thought the fight would take place abroad. They then toured the facilities in Newcastle and the Whitley Bay rink, and then the local authority came forward and said they would donate some money to the fight.

“There was no employment in the area, it was the biggest black spot in Britain and they thought a huge fight in Stanley would lift everyone’s spirits. This was unheard of. They wanted to fight in my village, in a recreation center 200 meters from where I lived!”

The fight was booked at the Louisa Center in Stanley for June 1989.

“It was my first time participating in a real training camp,” McCrory said. “I was in great shape and I had the need.

“[The Sun boxing correspondent] Colin Hart was my biggest fan. He said I had the best left hook since Henry Cooper – and even he said I would lose!

“The headline on the morning of the fight was: ‘Glenn is dead.’

“I then went to my wife and my child, kissed them goodbye, put my bag on my shoulder and walked 200 meters further to fight for the world title!

“I remember seeing guys in bows and TV trucks and thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’ It was then that I began to realize the enormity of this phenomenon.

“It had a capacity of 1,700 people, but I think there were a thousand more. It was crowded and loud.

“Ian Darke commented on the fight on BBC Radio and still says it was one of the best atmospheres he has ever experienced.

“My priest came to me in the locker room and I was fucking. I felt like I was going to the gallows. He was a huge favorite.

“The dressing room door opened and the noise just hit me! I remember thinking, “Fuck, they don’t think I’m going to lose!”

“[Coach] Lover [Williford] he told me: “Attack him, he’s unsafe, he can hit” – but the tactic was forgotten!

“The way Lumumba acted when he was introduced was what won me the fight.

“He walked into the middle of the ring, put his hands at his sides and shrugged. He looked so confident. He said, “This title is mine” – or at least that’s how I felt at the time. At this point I lost my nerve. I just thought, “I’m going to break your face.”

“In the first round I hit him with a left hook and he was hanging on my leg. If he fell, I don’t think he would get up.

“I kept hitting him with left hook after left hook and he kept taking them and then he started coming back.

“He recovered in the seventh and eighth rounds. I remember him moving aside and hitting me with two right hands and my eardrum burst! I started to have doubts – and the crowd stood behind me, tried to lift me up.

“I looked at the ropes and my disabled brother David was there. He was supposed to be at home, but he stood ringside in a wheelchair, waving his arms and cheering on his brother. This gave me strength. I just thought, “Come on, dig deep.”

“About the tenth round I knew I had him. He gave up, his body went limp.

“There were some complex rounds for me and if the fight had been somewhere else, I could have lost. But that night in Stanley, I truly believe I could have beaten anyone in the world. I had an army behind me and I felt unstoppable.

“I went to bed that night knowing I had proven everyone wrong. Even my family has told me over the years, “Don’t get your hopes up, Glenn.”

“I did it, I became world champion and I never felt the same about the sport after that.”

McCrory, who lost the belt in his second defense to Jeff Lampkin after a scale fight and then fought Lennox Lewis at heavyweight, said: “I never thought about what would come after winning the world title.

“I never thought about defending him and if I could retire after beating Lumumba, I would. But I was paid £7,500 for the fight and then I had to pay some of it back to my manager and trainer.

“But I had parties and civic dinners in my honor, I rode an open-air bus and I was surrounded by crowds in Middlesbrough. Women kept asking me to sign their breasts – and I had to agree! This was my audience and I had to make them cheerful!

“I’m watching the tape now [of the Lumumba fight] AND [ITV Sport presenter] Dickie Davies later says: “Next week we’ll be in Las Vegas for the rematch between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns.”

“I laugh when I hear it, but that’s the kind of company I kept back then!”