Stoke on Trent’s Nathan ‘The Hitman’ Heaney upset the apple cart after sensationally beating British Middleweight champ Denzel Bentley in a career-defining victory. The thirty-four-year-old unbeaten fighter was an eight-to-one underdog with the bookies and the boxing pundits, with many of them thinking Bentley would have him out of there in a few rounds. Heaney walked out to the cheers of over two thousand supporters who made the trip up from Stoke to Manchester to cheer their fighter on. Heaney came into the contest with an unbeaten record of seventeen wins with Bentley (28) in his second stint as British champion winning eighteen, drawing one out of Twenty-one fights. Bentley weighed eleven stone six with Heaney coming in eleven stone five with A star ref Kevin Parker reffing. With Bentley's British Middleweight title and Heaney‘s WBC Middleweight continental title on the line, this Middleweight contest was scheduled over twelve three-minute minute rounds.
Good start by Heaney in a cagey first round with Heaney nicking it as he finished the round strong. Bentley was looking to counter and Heaney landed some nice combinations Bentley looked relaxed and landed good shots but Heaney boxed well on the back foot and won the round. Bentley was just looking for the big right hand in the third and controlled the center of the ring landing good shots with Heaney moving well and landing some good shots but Bentley nicked this round. Bentley marched forward in the fourth with Heaney boxing well on the back foot, Bentley landed some heavy right hands winning the round.
Heaney boxed well on the back foot in the fifth landing fast combinations then moved off not giving Bentley time to set himself who was still looking to land a big right hand. Bentley got some big shots off at the start of the sixth but Heaney showed some great and landed some great combinations to win the round.
Heaney’s confidence grew as he did a bit of showboating at the start of the seventh, Bentley continued to load up his shots and with every shot Bentley landed Heaney landed three or four.
Bentley landed a good right hand at the start of the eighth with Heaney taking it well, Heaney then walked onto a cracking right hook that rocked him but he seemed to recover quickly and let his hands go as he hit and moved.
Quite ninth round as both fighters seemed to take the round off, Bentley won the round landing the bigger shots with Bentley throwing Heaney to the floor and Heaney springing back to his feet. Heaney made Bentley catch air in the tenth as he moved well making Bentley miss, Heaney continued to land a nice flurry of shots that just outworked the British champ. Bentley picked up the pace in the eleventh and let some big shots go which Heaney took well, Heaney continued to move well and let off nice shots but it was Bentley’s round. Heaney moved well in the final round as Bentley looked for one big shot, Heaney continued to land flurries of shots and stood toe toe-to-toe with Bentley dancing away at the end to hear the final bell.
Judge Howard Foster scored it 117 to 111 Heaney, judge Steve Gray scored it 116 to 113 Heaney and Victor Loughlin scored it 114 to 114 to Heaney. I had it 115 to 113 Heaney.
Dexter’s Thoughts
Massive congratulationscome to Nathan Heaney who shocked a lot of people especially the boxing pundits who didn’t give him a chance. Over 2000 of his supporters from Stoke made the trip to Manchester to cheer him on as he put on a master class of boxing to a plan that worked perfectly. Heaney and his team had came up with a great game plan of hitting and moving and not giving Bentley time to set. This was a very memorable night for Heaney and Stoke on Trent and there is now talk of Heaney headlining a show at the Stoke City football ground next year which I’m sure he will fill. At the age of thirty-four old father time might not be on his side but from this display, he looks like he has a few more years in him and I do hope he can either defend his title three times and keep it or get a world title fight before he calls it a day. Heaney will also be entered into the Bbcolumn Hall of Fame Midlands for winning the British title. Once again the Column would like to congratulate Nathan Heaney on winning the British Middleweight title.