Denzel Bentley, the dude who held the WBO middleweight title, just got stripped of his belt. That’s right, his 102-day reign is officially over, and get this: he didn’t even get one defense in. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri confirmed the news on Friday after Bentley made the switch to Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing instead of defending his championship.
The Shortest Reign
Talk about a quick turnaround. Bentley grabbed the interim title back in April with a seventh-round TKO over Endry Saavedra. Then, in July, he got elevated to full champ status when Janibek Alimkhanuly decided to move up to super middleweight. So he became the guy, but the clock was ticking, and we never saw him step into the ring to defend that hard-won belt.
The Controversial Switch
The WBO hit Bentley with an order to defend his strap against the number one contender, Yoenli Hernandez. There was even a purse bid, with Warriors Boxing winning the rights for at least $200,000, which would have put $150,000 in Bentley’s pocket. But just days after all that went down, Bentley dropped a bombshell: he was jumping ship from Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions to Zuffa Boxing! He was set to debut for them in London on November 7 against Shane Mosley Jr., totally sidestepping Hernandez. He tried to appeal the WBO’s decision, fighting to keep that championship, but the Complaint and Grievance Committee shut it down on October 22. So, Friday was just the official word.
So what now for that WBO middleweight title? It’s vacant, and the WBO is expected to order Hernandez to fight for it. It looks like Michael Zerafa is the likely opponent, even though Vito Mielnicki Jr. and Tim Tszyu are ranked higher. The division just got a whole lot more interesting, and we’ll be watching to see who steps up next.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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