A Frank Warren promoted show goes ahead at York Hall, Bethnal Green this Friday evening, and the top of the bill sees Denzel Bentley defend his British middleweight title for the first time against Marcus Morrison.
BT Sport televise Bentley vs Morrison, live in the UK.
Bentley (16-1-1, 13 KOs) is a heavy-handed type, and first came into prominence during the first COVID-19 enforced lockdown in a cracking contest in September 2020.
The 27-year-old dropped Mark Heffron in the second round, and the pair fought to a thrilling draw.
A rematch was a natural, and this time with the vacant British title on the line, ‘2 Sharp’ forced Heffron to retire after four rounds.
The Battersea man attempted to add the Commonwealth belt, but found Felix Cash too much to handle in April last year, with Cash storming to a third round stoppage win.
After a comeback win, Bentley regained the Lonsdale Belt in May, as he took a split decision win over Linus Udofia for the vacant title in another breathless display.
Morrison (29-5, 16 KOs) suffered back-to-back losses in 2017, and it looked like his career was finished when upset by journeyman Alistair Warren in June 2018.
The 29-year-old rebounded with seven straight wins before a spirited points defeat to Chris Eubank Jr in May last year, but he was halted for the first time in his career in November 2021 by Zach Parker.
That was at super middleweight, and he returned last month with a four round points win to secure this title shot.
Prediction: Morrison’s early defeat to Parker could well tell us all about his punch resistance, and Bentley is a big puncher. Once the Londoner catches up with ’Sweet MNM’, I think it could be over swiftly, and I expect Bentley to retain before halfway.
Zorro tackles Spelman
Ellis Zorro makes his debut under the Frank Warren banner, and he has a tough eight rounder with former Commonwealth title challenger, Dec Spelman (18-5, 9 KOs) at cruiserweight.
Zorro (14-0, 6 KOs) is a former Ultimate BOXXER winner, but has never been past six rounds.
Prediction: He can overcome early scares here to take a points win.
Remaining Undercard
The other eight rounder should see a points win for Frank Arnold (9-0-1, 3 KOs) who takes on the tried and tested Nicaraguan, Brayan Mairena (11-30-1, 5 KOs) at super featherweight.
Six round action sees Adan Mohamed (6-0, 1 KO) make his third appearance of the year, and he can bank a points win at super bantamweight against Reiss Taylor (3-17, 1 KO).
Khalid Ali (3-0, 2 KOs) can also take his welterweight contest with Croatia’s Dario Borosa (1-19) on the scorecards.
Masood Abdulah (5-0, 4 KOs) is also in action, and the Islington-based super featherweight can score another early win, this time against Stefan Nicolae (3-37-2, 1 KO).
In four action, Royston Barney-Smith (2-0) should defeat Paul Holt (8-14, 2 KOs) on points at super featherweight, and at middleweight, debutant Joel Kodua should deal with Joe Hardy (1-2) inside the distance.
Arnold Obodai (1-0, 1 KO) can also take his cruiserweight contest with Pawel Strykowski (3-18-1) inside schedule.
Source:proboxing
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