If you're not already a fan of Denzel Bentley, prepare to be.
He purposely held back telling his story until he'd achieved the impossible. In April, he stopped Endry Saavedra in the seventh round at the O2 to become interim WBO middleweight champion. In July, he was elevated to full world champion. Now that the belt is in hand, he's ready to talk.
Bentley's rise to the top of the fight game has been against all odds. He had no financial backing and no connections. No one from his area had ever done what he set out to do. He started fighting at 15 in a makeshift fight club his brother set up on the landings of their council estate, learning to protect himself as knife violence began to affect friends around him.
He didn't walk into an amateur gym until he was 17, but soon realised he was a better fit there than in uni classes. He dropped out of school, got a part-time job at Sainsbury's, and spent two years racing Santander bikes from Battersea to Bermondsey every day, beating the half-hour limit because £2.50 was all he could afford. It was his late amateur coach, Steve Hiser, who saw a world champion in him long before Bentley could see it in himself. He turned pro at 22 and knocked out his first opponent in 30 seconds.
But even the road to the title tested him. In the 16 months before his world title shot, Bentley was a new father with no income, applying for local Amazon delivery jobs to try to keep afloat. There was no availability in his area. He held out, waiting for that title date. The dream kept him going.
His next chapter promises to be an entertaining one. He's just signed with Dana White's Zuffa Boxing, the disruptive new force in the sport, and on 7 November he faces Shane Mosley Jr, son of the legendary "Sugar" Shane Mosley, at the Copper Box Arena.
I've interviewed a fair few fighters in my short but meaningful time on the outskirts of the hurt business. Denzel Bentley is one of the most profound spirits I've ever sat across from.
We sit down with the champion to discuss the estate fight club where it all began, how he developed self-belief, fatherhood, faith, and who's next.
Square Mile: Why did you wait to tell your story, and why now?
Denzel Bentley: As a black kid growing up in London, everyone who's lived my upbringing has lived the same life. I felt like if I told my story too early, it would be pointless. They'll read it and think, who hasn't lived that? It goes under the water. I needed to achieve something great before I told my story so that people would really listen. I also don't like to gloat about my life. It's not interesting. Now people can be like, "Oh snap, he's from the same background as me and look what he's done." That's why I held off until I became a world champion.
SM: There's this moment before you became a world champion where you weren't fighting, and you started applying for Amazon delivery jobs. What was happening there?
DB: I never wanted to stop fighting, but I was looking for jobs because I'm in the gym every day, and it costs to get there. I have a young family. There are bills to be paid. If you don't fight, you don't get paid. I was out of the ring for 16 months at no fault of my own. I was waiting for a date, for the phone to ring. I travel over an hour to Essex every day to train. My son was born. I needed to apply for a part-time job to achieve this dream I'm trying to chase. I applied to be an Amazon delivery driver, but there were no jobs in the area. I refreshed it every single morning. If there was availability, I would have started right away. It got to a point where I was trying to sign up under a different address. Then, when the date was locked in for the world title, I didn't believe it until I saw the announcement online.
SM: Did you ever consider walking away from boxing?
DB: I hadn't achieved anything I set out to. I wanted to be a world champion. I knew it would come. It was just when. I was so close; I was ranked #1 with the WBO. I'm putting a lot of time into the gym, but it's getting to the point where I won't be able to provide for myself and my son. I couldn't have a job that takes up too much time. My head was just gone.
I had dates thrown at me, and they always fell through. I kept working towards that date. There were three fighters with fights coming up in my gym, so I did their camps with them. I'd do 12 rounds of sparring to help everyone else stay in shape. When the dates were proposed and fell through again, my head was just gone. I've got to get back in the gym. I've got to go again. It was up and down and all over the place.
SM: Let's go back to the beginning. When did you start fighting, and why did you stay fighting?
DB: At 15, my older brother bought gloves and a headset for no reason. We didn't even watch boxing. We weren't into it. He used to run track. I played football. He wanted to start charging guys on the estate to fight each other. He was 18 at the time. We were just doing it for fun. We popped one of the block doors and went onto the landing. We started matching people who looked to be the same height. At this point we didn't even have mouth guards. We'd just scrap each other and time it for a minute. We didn't last that long anyway, and it grew. People started calling each other out. We didn't smoke or do anything mad, so we were a lot healthier. I only boxed on the streets until I was 18. I didn't walk into an amateur gym until I was 17 years old. I had my first fight at 19, and then I turned pro at 22.
SM: Tell me more about that fight club.
DB: If you're not getting beat up, it's fun. I remember one time I was fighting my brother's friends, and they were 18 at the time. I was 15. There was this one guy that had a real punch in him. He had a one-bang. He'd hit them, and they'd go over. No one would fight him. I said I'd fight him. Didn't really care. My brother said, "If you get knocked out, don't blame me." Everyone was telling me not to do it. We started fighting, and it was going on for ages. It got to a point where I had him on the wall, and he was so tired he couldn't lift up his arms. Everyone jumped in and called it. I was like, I won it; I can fight!
SM: You saw someone you knew was dangerous, and you said, "Yes, please." Have you ever thought about why you thrive in danger, why you come alive within that?
DB: I've never thought about it, you know. People ask me who I want to fight, and I always pick the most dangerous person. They look at me like I'm mad. I don't pick easy fights. I don't get excited unless the fight is dangerous. It's just who I am.
MF Pro - Dave Cavan
SM: Take me back to the decision to go pro. What was happening in your life at that point?
DB: A year into my amateur career I only had one or two fights. Then I dropped out of uni. I had a part-time job at Sainsbury's. I was up to no good. My car was messed up. I was making no money. I was walking from Battersea to Bermondsey every single day to train, or I'd get the Santander bikes, which was £2.50 for half an hour. I remember racing to get to the next stand under 30 minutes every single day for two years to get to the gym. I was 22 and everyone was getting jobs and getting on, and I was just living at my mum's. I couldn't live like it anymore. I don't like living in one place. I felt like I was going backwards. Someone asked me what I was doing, and I couldn't say. I wasn't studying. I wasn't really boxing. I knew something needed to change.
I told my amateur coach I wanted to turn pro. They told me to stay amateur longer to get an ABA title, but I was too impatient. I didn't know any pros. I didn't know anything about being a pro fighter. I didn't know about selling tickets; I didn't even know about journeymen. I just wanted to fight. I had 17 fights, 13 wins as an amateur. I ended up having my first pro fight and knocked them out in 30 seconds.
When I started boxing, yeah, I was overweight. My brother and I used to do this workout called Insanity. I lost a bit of weight doing that. I'd been to the gym on and off, and my brother kept saying, "You want to be a boxer, but can you see yourself as a champion?" If you can't see it, it's not going to happen. I couldn't envision it back then. I couldn't see myself as a champion. He said you're not ready if you don't see it. Then my coach saw it and kept telling me. He's the reason I started to see it.
SM: How was your route into the pros different from other fighters'?
DB: My upbringing in boxing was different. I wasn't with any big promoters. I was on small hall shows for my first eight fights, selling tickets to pay myself and my opponent. I wanted to be a champion, but I didn't know the route to get there. But I kept knocking everyone out.
SM: You must have known you were great at it if you were pouring all of your time into it?
DB: It's crazy because I really didn't know if I was good. It was my amateur coach that convinced me. When I first started, he was quite on me. He said, if you're not sparring, I'm gonna charge you the full fiver instead of the two pounds boxers pay. He looked at me and said, "Do you believe in yourself?" I said yeah, but I didn't.
How good is someone with my experience supposed to be? Am I really better than someone who was boxing since they were a kid? Who came up in the sport? Who won national titles? I hadn't won any national titles. I wasn't even an amateur champion, and he looked at me and saw a champion. Every time I came in, he was on me. Where you been? You're sparring. He really pushed me. He made me feel like I could actually do it. That's why I stuck to it.
SM: What was his name?
DB: Steve Hiser. He's passed now. Rest in peace. He was a great man.
SM: So now you are a world champion, Denzel. Is the dream what you thought it would be?
DB: I thought there would be more to it, you know? I am world champion. I've achieved it. But life is still the same. I'm still me. The work is the work. I need that next defence fight to stamp it. People wait for their achievements to start behaving a certain way or change things. I'm happy
I'm a world champion, but it doesn't affect my life. I'll go have a meal in KFC, and my dad's like, "Denzel, what the hell, do you know who you are?" I don't care. I'm just me, innit.
I'm trying to enjoy the journey more. No one from my area or my generation has achieved this. I was three-time European Champion. I was British Champion. Now I'm world champion. My brother looked at me and said, "You know what, you've done something big." I said, you think so? I don't think it's enough. I'm living it so I don't see it, you know? I don't big myself up too much. But now I believe I can tell my story. Now it will mean something.
MF Pro - Dave Cavan
MF Pro - Dave Cavan
SM: Something I love speaking to fighters about is their relationship to pain. What do you think that is for you?
DB: You know what, pain doesn't register in the ring. I can get pinched right now and scream. I got a tattoo on my calf. Oh my days. I said I'm not getting any more. Forget it.
SM: First tattoo! What tattoo did you get?
DB: It's a Ghanaian symbol that translates to "I fear no one except for God." My family is from Ghana. The native language there is Twi. I understand it but I don't speak it fully. We come from the Ashanti tribe.
I got it after the Kieran Smith fight. At the time, I wanted to get a sleeve, so I was trying to find things I valued, and the Ghanaian symbol resonated with me most. I didn't want to get something related to boxing because when I retire, that journey will be gone. I wanted something that, when I look at my tattoo at 50, will still resonate with me. It's from my motherland, it's Ghanaian, and it's also a symbol of God.
SM: Do you actively practise your faith?
DB: I pray a lot. I pray every day. I try to go to church a lot. I always pray before my fights. I never used to, but I've been praying a lot more recently. Every night before bed, I pray, and in the morning I thank God for waking me up. It's easy to wake up and look at your phone, so I'm trying to practise gratitude. A lot of people pray for things. When there's something on my heart, I'll pray, but mostly it's thanking Jesus for life.
SM: How are you enjoying fatherhood?
DB: I'm loving it, man. It's got its challenges, but I don't think I'd trade it for anything. My son's very energetic and kind-hearted. He's not really a brat, but he has these moments when he throws tantrums. But every time I open the door to come home, he's running to it and screaming, "Daddy, Daddy!" You can't trade those moments for anything.
SM: What is your son's name?
DB: Cairo.
MF Pro - Dave Cavan
SM: How would you describe your relationship with your son at this point?
DB: He's my best friend. I don't think I've been away a week since he was born. I'll be gone three or four days and he'll wake up and be like, "Daddy's back!" and I'm like, my guy, man, someone's missing me out here.
SM: What about it feels like friendship?
DB: He doesn't care who I am. I could be a bum for all he cares. It doesn't matter to him. It's not because I'm doing something. He just loves me cause I am his dad. He's always there. He's always happy to see me. He comes and gives me a cuddle.
When he was first born, I swear I looked at him and started laughing. He was born premature, six weeks early. My missus had to get a C-section; it was a bit traumatic. His lungs hadn't fully developed. He was on a breathing machine. I was laughing, and I was like, so all of a sudden I'm supposed to just love this guy? Like, who is he? It sounds so mad, yeah? It's been five minutes. In my mind, I'm like, everyone's a liar. Obviously I was excited my son is here; he is safe. But I didn't feel that wild connection immediately. Over time, we grew a relationship and now I get it. This is my guy for life.
SM: I know your son is very little, but do you ever talk to him about your life and how you are feeling?
DB: You know what's mad is he is so emotionally intelligent. He comes to me and says, "Oh Daddy, are you sad?" And I'm like, oh come on man, don't do that, you're gonna make me cry. Maybe he gets that from his mum, cause it's definitely not from me. He'll come and rub my back.
SM: Who is the person you call when you're not okay?
DB: I've got two friends that I'm extremely close with. It's just the three of us in the group chat. When someone is going through something, we'd put in the group chat, "Yo, you man. Therapy, man." And we'd meet up and go do something all together and just talk it out, and it'd end up in laughter and jokes. My two friends Rich and Jeremy. They are who I call when my head's gone. I'm a bit stubborn though. There's times I'm just like, nah, I'll deal with it myself. I don't like feeling vulnerable at all. It's another reason I kept my private life private. People attack your vulnerabilities.
SM: Do you think boxing has helped you heal in any way?
DB: I do think fighting was healing for me. I feel so free in the gym. Everything goes away when I'm in the gym. All the stress goes away. It's crazy hard; it's intense. But I'm at peace. I'm here. I leave the gym and everything hits me: bills, life, politics. I hate the politics of it; it frustrates the life out of me. The only thing that keeps me boxing is how much I enjoy it and how free I feel when I'm fighting and competing.
SM: Let's say I give you a magic pen to write the story of the rest of your career. What happens next?
DB: From here on out, it's all bonuses. When I won that title fight, I achieved my selfish goal. I put everything on hold to become a world champion. That was my goal, and I did it. Now I've got a young family, and it's about supporting them. It's about making the most money I can to take care of my family and my young son. I've been selfish enough.
First, I've got to take care of business on 7 November. After I finish Mosley Jr, I want Aaron McKenna or Carlos Adames. Long term, Conor Benn and Canelo. I'm ready for the big names.
SM: Last question. If you could speak to the young man like you, who comes from the same place you do, the young Denzel of today who doesn't see his potential yet, what would you say to him?
DB: Believe in what your heart desires. Whatever it is, just believe. Even if you're from an environment where you can't see the path. When I grew up, I didn't know a boxer. No one from where I came from did it. But it was my dream. Whatever it is you want to be, believe in your heart you can do it. Block out the noise. Anyone who brings negativity, block them out. If you put your dream in someone else's hands, you'll always wonder why your life doesn't look like your own.
You can watch Denzel Bentley vs Shane Mosley Jr live on Sky Sports on Saturday 7 November from the Copper Box Arena, London.
