BENTLEY RECALLS MORRISON SNUB | Frank Warren

DENZEL BENTLEY HAS revealed that a fight with Marcus Morrison could have happened back in 2020 but he was told to ‘wait his turn’ by the now challenger for the British middleweight title.

Bentley makes a first defence of his Lonsdale belt against the Manchester man on September 16 at York Hall, having won back his prized possession with victory over LInus Udofia back in May.

When boxing emerged from lockdown just over two years ago, Bentley of Battersea was informed that Morrison was a potential opposition for his own return, which took place at the BT Sport studios.

Ultimately, a match with Morrison did not come to fruition and the experienced Mick Hall was drafted in to test drive Bentley.

Bentley then took to social media to enquire why Morrison didn’t materialise.

“I was told in the first fight back after lockdown that I was possibly facing Marcus Morrison and then a couple of weeks later it changed to Mick Hall,” recalled the 27-year-old.

“So I sent out a tweet saying ‘what happened to you, I thought we were meant to be fighting?’ and he came back with ‘wait your turn’. So I was like, okay, fair enough.

“Then by the end of that year I won the British and he tweeted me asking for a crack at that, so I told him to get to the back of the queue.

“So we had a bit of fun with each other online and stuff.”

Good things come to those who wait and these two will soon be on the bash in Bethnal Green in a fight fans are looking forward to witnessing.

“Yeah they are, he is someone who tries all the time and doesn’t really back down or go in his shell. He has stepped up to a good level and he can punch.

“I haven’t been in a boring fight yet, so I guess any fight I am in people will be excited to see, to be honest.”

Morrison hails from the prolific Gallagher’s Gym in Bolton where the resident fight guru Joe Gallagher is nurturing a next generation of champions. Just a few weeks ago, Mark Heffron became British, Commonwealth and IBF Intercontinental champion, while Natasha Jonas and Paul Butler are the proud owners of world title belts.

Bentley believes that mixing in a good company does have a positive impact on a fighter and partly for not wanting to be left out of conversations.

“One hundred per cent, if the gym is successful you want to be in the same bracket as these guys,” he added. “When someone is talking about your gym and the top fighters, you want to be mentioned in that light.

“You don’t want to be in the gym for years and years, then when they mention the top guys, people leave you out. You are part of that too and you are going to want to push on and start achieving things.”

Tickets for Bentley vs Morrison at York Hall on Friday, 16 September are on sale now, available exclusively from ticketmaster.co.uk.

BRITISH MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION Denzel Bentley (16-1-1, 13 KOs) will defend his title against Marcus Morrison (24-5, 16 KOs) at York Hall on Friday September 16, live on BT Sport.

Also in action in Bethnal Green will be the ferocious Liverpool bantam Andrew Cain (10-0, 9 KOs) making a defence of his WBC International Silver title and Boxxer cruiserweight series winner Ellis Zorro (14-0, 6 KOs) will make his first appearance in Queensberry colours, taking on a tough operator in Dec Spelman (18-5, 9 KOs).

The supporting cast at York Hall includes teenage prodigy Royston Barney-Smith (2-0) taking on Birmingham’s Paul Holt (8-14, 2 KOs) over six rounds in his third professional fight at super featherweight. Willy Hutchinson (14-1, 10 KOs) will be looking to continue his revival at light heavyweight after making a successful comeback in June.

Hackney super featherweight Frank Arnold (9-0-1, 3 KOs) will fight over eight rounds, Buckhurst Hill super bantam Adan Mohamed (4-0, 1 KO) and welterweight Khalid Ali (3-0, 2 KOs) from Brick Lane in London will fight in six round contests, with Belvedere cruiserweight Arnold Obodai (1-0, 1 KO) and the debut-making middleweight Joel Kodua from Beckinham fighting in four-rounders.

Tickets for Bentley vs Morrison at York Hall on Friday, 16 September are on sale now, available exclusively from ticketmaster.co.uk.