Rowley Regis’s Tyler Denny has claimed the English Middleweight title on his fourth attempt beating the unbeaten River Wilson-Bent in a cracking contest. This was the second time these two fighters had met after a controversial first encounter that ended in a split draw. The fight was part of the undercard at the Skydome Coventry which was being aired live on Sky Sports. Southpaw Denny (30) weighed in 11 stone 6 with Wilson-Bent (28) coming in 11 stone 5 with Matt Harris reffing.
Scrappy first round with both fighters having joy, a bit of rough housing in the round could not split them. Great second round with Wilson-Bent keeping it long and Denny piling on the pressure, Denny had some joy but Wilson-Bent won the round. Wilson-Bent started the round well leading off with a nice jab and one, two’s, Denny landed a cracking shot right at the end of the round that seemed to rock Wilson-Bent but hostile won the round. Denny piled on the pressure in the fourth and banged in some heavy shots as Wilson-Bent tried to stick to his boxing, Denny won this round. Both fighters had good parts of the fifth round but Denny won the round with the heaver shots.
Denny dictated the sixth banging in some big body shots with Wilson-Bent sustained cut above his left eye from a clash of heads. Denny continued to put the pressure on as Wilson-Bent fought back hard with his cut reopening as Denny continued to bang in big shots, Wilson-Bent had a point taken off for holding. Both fighters looked tired in the eighth with Wilson-Bent throwing Denny to the floor in a scrappy round, Wilson-Bent came back strong at the end to nick the round. Great ninth round with both fighters having joy, Denny nicked the round with some big left hands. Wilson-Bent came out fast in the final round getting some great shots off, Denny came back with some good shots of his own but Wilson-Bent just edged the round.
The judges scored it Ron Grey had it 96 to 94 Wilson-Bent, judge Terry O’Connor scored it 97 to 93 Denny, and judge Kevin Parker scored it 96 to 93 Denny. Myself I had it 96 to 94 Denny.
Dexter’s Thought’s
What a great performance by both fighters who left it all in the ring in a contest that has the potential to be a Bbcolumn fight of the year contender. On his fourth attempt, Tyler Denny finally claimed the English Middleweight title, and as much as I’m a Wilson-Bent fan, I have always been a fan of Denny. I remember the first time I watched him box in the away corner on a Black Country Boxing Promotions show at Walsall town hall back in September 2017. He took on the much-fancied unbeaten fighter Tom Stokes for the Middleweight Midlands area title beating him on points. He then went on to contest for the English title 3 times losing to Reece Cartwright after sustaining some bad cuts then on points against Linus Udofia. His third crack at it was against River Wilson-Bent with the fight ending in a controversial split draw after the deemed a cut on Wilson-Bent was done by a clash of heads. After watching the replay it is quite obvious it came from a punch but it did lead us to this great fight.
Both fighters can be very proud of their performance and at 28 Wilson-Bent can come again and either go for the English title again or look at even bigger titles. The English title is a great stepping stone to bigger titles and the next one Denny has his eye on is the British, hopefully, he gets his shot at this title sooner rather than later but I have to say it was a great display by him to win the English title.