Denzel Bentley to defend British light-middleweight title against Kieran Smith

Denzel Bentley return to British title business when he defends his middleweight belt against Kieran Smith on the undercard of the Joe Joyce-Zhilei Zhang heavyweight showdown at the Copper Box Arena on April 15.

Battersea’s Bentley (17-2-1, 14) is back fighting in London after his unsuccessful WBO world title tilt against Janibek Alimkhanuly in November, having won back his Lonsdale belt in a vacant title battle against Linus Udofia. He then made an emphatic defence against Marcus Morrison before heading over to Las Vegas to take on the formidable Kazakh.

Scotland’s Smith (18-1) is now operating at middleweight after forging a productive career at super-welterweight that saw him become WBC International Silver champion and make two successful defences, before coming to a conclusion in April 2021 when he was stopped by Troy Williamson.

“A British middleweight title fight is the perfect foil for the big heavyweight collision between Joe and Big Bang Zhang and this will be a strong undercard at the Copper Box, with a little bit more to reveal next week,” said promoter Frank Warren.

“Denzel Bentley proved himself as a world-level performer over in Las Vegas against Janibek, a man who the other middleweights wouldn’t go near. If Denzel had gone on the attack a bit sooner it could have been a different outcome.

“He can return to the top table and an upside for him – and us – is that he can maintain his momentum in meaningful British title fights, but Kieran Smith fully intends to knock him off-course.”

The show will be shown live on BT Sport.

PICTURE: MIKEY WILLIAMS/TOP RANK