The Birmingham Boxing Column first saw Coventry-born River enter the ring on his pro debut five years ago at the Holte Suite Villa Park. Wilson-Bent took on Mike Castell in a four-round Middleweight contest in front of his massive following who had travelled from Coventry to cheer him on. Wilson-Bent made quick work of Castell stopping him in one minute thirty seconds of the first round.
That week the Column got in contact with River to interview him, we now go back to these questions and ask this talented thirty-year-old fighter them again.
River was born in Coventry stands at six foot two and is a Middleweight, the thirty-year-old fights out of an orthodox stance and has boxed for sixteen years.. Wilson-Bent had fifty-seven amateur fights winning thirty-two six of them. During his amateur career, he won the central area English Middleweight title and two Harringey box cup silvers at 69kg and 76kg.
As a professional Wilson-Bent has an impressive record of Twenty wins and one draw out of twenty-five contests. River won his first ten contests claiming the Midlands area Middleweight title when he stopped Troy Coleman one minute forty-two seconds of the third round.
Wilson-Bent then went on and contested for the vacant English title twice against Tyler Denny drawing the first and being outpointed, in the second. River has also fought for the Commonwealth, WBC silver and most recently the Commonwealth silver and top fighters.
Wilson-Bent still trains out of Bulkington Boxing Club and is trained by Bren Norman. My first question to River was
who is your favorite boxer and why? Wilson-Bent told me “Thomas Hearns because vicious boxing style and his devastating Kos”. I then asked him what is the best fight you have seen? He informed me “Seen live it would have to be Sam Eggington vs Bilel Jkitou”.
My next question was what inspired you to take up boxing? River said, “I got invited to the gym by a friend, I thought I was fit until I went to my first boxing session. I was addicted from the get go”.
My final question to Wilson-Bent was what has been your hardest fight? River told me “It has to be Hamzah Sheeraz, we were so confident we would do a job on him and found out real quick he is the real deal boxing ability and punch power were ridiculous”.
Dexter’s Thoughts
I have had the privilege of following River’s career from the very start and I could see from the start that he was a very talented boxer. He had a great start to his career winning ten in a row and claiming the Midlands Middleweight area title. He has looked to make the step up to the next level several times but at this point has not claimed one of the titles that could propel him higher up the ranking. To me, he has just come up against fighters who have hit their peak like Tyler Denny, Hamzah Sheeraz, and Ryan Kelly. I still think that there is more to come from the Coventry and I have always said that this fighter will reach at least British standard I can still see him reaching this goal and contesting for the British before he ends his career. I look forward to continuing to follow his journey.