Denzel Bentley believes signing with Zuffa Boxing cost him WBO world title: There was no ot
Denzel Bentley's 102-day reign as WBO middleweight champion came to an abrupt end this past Friday when the WBO officially stripped him of his title.
Bentley was upgraded to full champion in July after former titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly decided to continue his career at super middleweight. Although the WBO initially granted Bentley a voluntary defense, it then accepted the petition of top contender Yoenli Hernandez to have his mandatory position immediately enforced.
Bentley told Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show" Wednesday that he believes the manner in which everything played out was a direct result of his decision to leave Frank Warren's Queensberry and switch promotional allegiances to Zuffa Boxing.
"I can't say for certain, but that's what I think [that I was not allowed a voluntary defense because I left with Zuffa]," Bentley said. "That's how I feel, because there was no other reason for that statement [WBO president Gustavo Olivieri] put out to be retracted.
"For [Olivieri] to say I get a voluntary like it's all said and done before the end of the year — which, I'm having a fight now, which could well be a voluntary defense. Shane Mosley Jr. is ranked No. 6 with the WBO, and that could've been a solid defense, and then we go next year [against Hernandez].
"They've now taken the title, and the person who was mandatory in Hernandez, he can't fight for it till next year anyway. You've just taken the title from me for no reason. I pay my sanctioning fee like everyone else, but in this instance I didn't feel like I was treated like the champion."
According to the WBO's official resolution, when the sanctioning body elevated Bentley to full WBO champion on July 20, it expressly reserved the right to determine whether Bentley would have to face a mandatory or be allowed a voluntary defense first.
Queensberry Promotions, Bentley's previous promoter, was planning a fight between Bentley and Liam Smith on Nov. 7 in Liverpool. The WBO approved it as a voluntary defense, but when the bout ultimately did not materialize, and Bentley did not request permission for an alternative fight, the WBO enforced the mandatory commitment.
Olivieri confirmed to Uncrowned that Bentley has now filed another appeal against the WBO's handling of the matter and decision to strip him. Hernandez has also been ordered to face Australia's Michael Zerafa for the now-vacant middleweight belt.
Considering Zuffa Boxing's initial stance against boxing's sanctioning bodies at the beginning of the year, some thought the promoter would be pleased not to have one of its fights associated with the WBO, but Bentley doesn't believe that is the case.
"I'm not quite sure [what Zuffa thinks], because they told me that obviously they'd prefer me to have the title on the show — it helps the show," Bentley said. "But in terms of them putting in any [legwork] — I think they may have spoken to the WBO, but I'm not quite sure because it was my team and my team management that were handling it.
"But I do know this case came up before we signed, so there was nothing really they could do until we showed that commitment and signed with them."
Bentley officially ended his seven-year relationship with Warren's Queensberry just weeks after his upgrade to full champion. The British boxer believes he was not a priority at Queensberry and was displeased with how inactive he had been with the promotion.
Bentley hadn't been formally under contract with Queensberry for the past few years. Instead, his manager, Martin Bowers, has been working on a handshake deal with the Warrens.
"My last fight [was] in April. Before that I was out for 16 months and I was very inactive, and obviously I wasn't happy with the circumstances and stuff around that," Bentley said.
"Your guess is as good as mine [as to why I didn't fight for 16 months]," Bentley continued. "[I was] British and [WBO] European champion at the time. Because I just boxed the WBO No. 2 at the time [Brad Pauls in December 2024], we were promised that the winner of that fight goes on to fight for a world title. That wasn't the case.
"But because of that promise, I was advised to vacate my titles, sit tight, and wait for the world title shot. In July [2025], it was announced that I have to fight an eliminator against the No. 2 again Endry Saavedra, who I boxed [in my last fight], and that took about a year or 16 months altogether to kind of get over the line."
Bentley said that during his 16-month hiatus from the ring, he tried to become an Amazon delivery driver to earn an income and help make ends meet. He was unable to do so, though, because there were no opportunities in his area.
For all the talk of boxers being overpaid, it is a sad state of affairs that a No. 1 contender had to apply to become a delivery driver because of his sustained inactivity and his income until that point in his career hadn't accumulated enough to live comfortably without regular fights.
"When I did win that [WBO interim title in April] and went back to the [Queensberry] office, there was still that bit of uncertainty," Bentley said. "'OK, you'll be out on this date,' and that wasn't the date. Or, 'You're fighting over here in another city for such an amount of money,' which I didn't think was worth it as the champion going to defend in the challenger's hometown and not getting the lion's share of whatever the money might've been.
"Around that time was when I started thinking, 'You know, I've got to look somewhere else and try and speak to other promoters, and see where I'm valued, and take myself over there and continue my career.''
Bentley spoke to multiple promoters regarding his future. Eddie Hearn's Matchroom made Bentley — who is of Ghanaian descent — an offer to defend his title against Hernandez on Dec. 19 in Ghana, but Hearn's offer was smaller than that of Zuffa Boxing's, and Bentley says it arrived after he had already agreed on his Zuffa deal.
Bentley will debut for White's promotion against Shane Mosley Jr. in the co-feature of Zuffa Boxing 12 on Saturday in London.