BoxRec

Press Release

Queensberry Promotions can today confirm the return of Friday night fights to BT Sport on November 13th with the announcement of the highly anticipated rematch between British Middleweight standouts Mark Heffron and Denzel Bentley.

The BBBofC have confirmed that the bout will serve as a final eliminator for the British Middleweight title.

UK fans have demanded the domestic duel be rerun ever since their epic September scrap ended with a rare unanimous draw. That wish has now been granted

Whilst the first fight was arguably the highlight of all post-lockdown boxing, fans were left crying out for more as the ringside judges couldn’t separate the fighters - all three scoring the bout 95-95.

In the world of social media, neither experts nor fans could unite behind a singler fighter as the rightful winner and, equally, the fighters themselves were both convinced they’d done enough to claim victory.

With no consensus victor from punters, pundits and fighters alike, allegedly has taken the only course of action that made sense and booked the rematch.

“The British fans wanted it, so we’ve delivered it” said Warren, adding “it was the easiest decision in the world to put these two back in the ring together.”

“The response to the first fight was overwhelmingly positive. Fans up and down the country were hailing the fight as the best domestic Middleweight scrap in years. With no clear winner, the only thing to do was book an immediate rematch and let these two finally settle the debate once and for all.

“I had the first fight a draw, honestly. I thought Mark was all action and came forward well, but Denzel boxed tremendously, showed great movement and picked his shots intelligently. Denzel scored a big knockdown early, but got hurt himself in the later rounds.

“It’s only right that the fight is an eliminator for the British title. The winner of this will go on and achieve great things.

“This rematch is such a great fight for British boxing fans, and I couldn’t begin to pick a winner. I reckon the bookies are going to struggle to separate them too - it’s the definition of a 50-50 fight.”

Mark Heffron (25-1-1, 19KO’s) said: “I’m so pleased that this rematch has been arranged and I'm back in the ring so quick. You will see a sharper Mark Heffron this time. I know I won the first fight, but in this second one I’m planning on leaving no doubt.”

Denzel Bentley (13-0-1, 11KO’s) said: “Thanks to Frank for getting the rematch on for us straight away and giving me another chance to show the world why I’m the future of this division.”

It was also confirmed that Tommy Fury will return to action on the undercard. Tyson’s younger brother was last seen in action on December 21, and will be looking for another first round stoppage in the Light Heavyweight division. Opponent TBC.

The first fight was decent but I think they might be going over the top calling it ‘epic’!

maverick23 wrote: ↑20 Oct 2020, 15:58 The first fight was decent but I think they might be going over the top calling it ‘epic’!

Should be a good scrap.

You know we press Releases. Always hyping.

Should be another cracker.

Press Release | Rematch Now For Vacant British Title

The British Boxing Board of Control have today announced that the rematch between Mark Heffron and Denzel Bentley has been sanctioned for the now vacant British Middleweight title.

Previously announced as a final eliminator, the bout was upgraded once Liam Williams chose to vacate his title. Williams will now focus his attention on his position as the mandatory challenger for the WBO title held by Demetrius Andrade.

Heffron (25-1-1, 19KO’s) and Bentley (13-0-1, 11KO’s) last met on the 12th September, with the fight ending in a controversial unanimous draw. Both fighters believed they’d done enough to win the fight, and will now get a chance to settle the debate with the richest prize in domestic boxing on the line.

On fighting for the British title, Mark Heffron said: “My daughter Poppy wants that title belt for Christmas and I never let her down.”

Denzel Bentley was equally confident, saying: “Being British and fighting for the British title is an honour. I want to conquer home first, then I'll go on to conquer the world.”

Heffron vs Bentley 2 headlines another huge night of BT Sport Boxing for Queensberry Promotions on Friday November 13th.

Chief support to the huge domestic battle will be provided by Tommy Fury (3-0, 2 KO’s), who will be returning the ring for the first time since last December. Tyson’s younger brother will undoubtedly be looking for another spectacular first round knockout.

English Champion Michael Ramabeletsa (18-17, 8 KO’s) will compete against Chris Bourke (8-0, 5 KO’s) in a 10 round Super-Bantamweight clash.

Queensberry new boy Kaisy Khademi (8-0, 2 KO’s) makes his promotional debut in a 10 round defense of his WBO European Super-Flyweight title against Birmingham’s Ijaz Ahmed (7-2). The vacant IBF European title will also be on the line.

Rounding out the card will be unbeaten featherweight Louie Lynn (7-0, 6 KO’s), former Team GB starlet Muhammad Ali (1-0) and professional debutant Masoud Abdulah.

Good main event but poor undercard.

Ramabeletsa vs Bourke seems a decent enough match tbf, and Khademi vs Ijaz has it's merits.

For a smaller, Friday night card it's reasonable I think.

Kaisy Khademi vs. Ijaz Ahmed Added To November 13 BT Sport Card

Kaisy Khademi will be back in the ring before the end of the year.

The 25-year-old was last in action last December and is expected to return on a card within the next month.

Khademi won an unanimous decision against Pedro Matos in his last outing, with scores of 96-94, 96-93 and 95-94 being handed in by the three ringside judges at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.

And it has been revealed that Khademi will be back on November 13, behind-closed-doors at the BT Sport Studios in Stratford, as part of the supporting cast to the rematch between Denzel Bentley and Mark Heffron.

The return between the middleweights was agreed after their initial meeting back in September ended in a stalemate and the rematch will have the vacant British title at stake after it was relinquished by the WBO’s number one-ranked challenger Liam Williams following his one-round drilling of Andrew Robinson earlier this month.

Khademi, the WBO European super-flyweight champion who will face former Midlands Area flyweight champion Ijaz Ahmed on the card, was being earmarked as a potential addition to the supporting cast of the British, Commonwealth and vacant European heavyweight title clash between Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce which was set for November 28, but he’ll box 15 days earlier.

The vacant IBF European super-flyweight title will also be at stake on the night between Khademi (8-0, 2 KOs) and Ahmed (7-2).

Ahmed, for his part, has been out since losing in a challenge for the vacant WBO European flyweight title to Harvey Horn in November last year.

Tommy Fury, the former Love Island star who is the brother of WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury, will look to keep up his unbeaten record and go 4-0 on the card, while the long-awaited debut of former national amateur lightweight champion Masood Abdulah will also take place on the bill.

Abdulah, the five-time London amateur champion and former Tri-Nations winner turned professional at the back end of last year under the management of Alfie Warren and Warren Boxing Management and then signed a promotional agreement with Queensberry Promotions.

Further additions to the undercard will be revealed in due course.

Tommy Fury is odds on to go into The Jungle.

mickey1975 wrote: ↑27 Oct 2020, 06:45 Tommy Fury is odds on to go into The Jungle.

Gonna be a crap I’m a celeb this year..

Frank W Breaks Down Heffron vs. Bentley II Card

By FW.

THE CARD FOR the explosive middleweight rematch between Mark Heffron and Denzel Bentley on Friday November 13 is now fully marked and we are guaranteed a good few more big bangs the week after Bonfire Night.

With our top man at 160lbs, Liam Williams, now ready to create more of his own brand of havoc at world title level against Demetrius Andrade, we have been able to part him from the British title that played such a big part of launching the reboot of the Welsh firebrand.

It is fitting to be able to attach such a prestigious belt to a deserving fight that really couldn’t be more 50-50 than three judges coming up with the same scorecard!

It says much about the two guys that they both insisted on jumping straight back in and no thought was given to hanging on to see when crowds will be allowed back into venues. These two want to get this done and the winner crack on.

I don’t think anyone is any the wiser on how this one will go second time around. Will Mark surprise us by mixing it up a bit more? Will Denzel be prepared to engage in a full-on shootout with a renowned banger?

Friday the 13th seems an appropriate day to find out and will certainly be unlucky for someone.

The name Fury is going to be very much to the forefront over the next five weeks, with Tyson all set to make his UK return at the Royal Albert Hall on December 5 on a show that will, in part, mark my 40 years in the sport as a licensed promoter.

But before Big Brother returns to our screens on BT Sport, we have light heavyweight Tommy Fury taking his next step in the professional ranks on the Heffron-Bentley undercard.

It has been a bit stop-start for Tommy since he made his debut on the big Warrington-Frampton Box Office production in November 2018. After another fight three months later he was off seeking fame and romance on Love Island, where he made quite a name for himself, charmed the audience and became half of a celebrity couple.

Even though he made a return to the ring last December at the Copper Box, the commitments attached to being on the show and becoming public property for a period of time made it difficult for Tommy to fully devote himself to the fight game.

It is a sport where half measures will always come up short and it is not a profession you can dabble in and get away with it.

Tommy is now ready to knuckle down and really make a go of it. He has got the profile, he is nicely settled on the home front with his partner Molly Mae and he is training like trojan in tandem with Tyson.

He will need time to establish himself and learn the ropes though. I am not one who would take advantage of his profile and chuck him in too deep before his is ready. Tommy will have the development he needs, just like everyone else.

A tasty little sidedish on the menu I heartily recommend viewing is the super bantamweight clash between Chris Bourke, our unbeaten Southern Area champion, and the English champion Michael Ramabeletsa.

The Preston-based South African has a patchy record and people will point to his age of 38 in making a strong case for the home fighter being fed easy pickings. His record of 18-17 does not tell a true story and the truth of the matter is young Chris has got a helluva fight on his hands.

Take a look at Ramabeletsa’s last three opponents. Three unbeaten fighters with a combined record of 24-0. And only one of them went the distance. So don’t read too much into records where this fight is concerned.

That said, I believe Chris is a quality young fighter with a big future in front of him. The fact he is ready to jump into such a fight without questions tells you what you need to know about him and the belief his team have in him.

This is the sort of fight for Chris where he can turn the corner from being a vaunted ex-Team GB prospect into being a genuine contender.

There is a strong dash of human interest in the next fight booked on the card where Kaisy Khademi, an 8-0 super flyweight, makes his Queensberry debut against Ijaz Ahmed, with the WBO and IBF European titles at stake.

Kaisy is a great story. An Afghan refugee who fled his homeland with his family at the age of four and, after a couple of difficult years spent in Pakistan, they embarked on a perilous two-year mission to reach London, where his brother was already living.

Kaisy and his family were forced to rely on human traffickers to make the dangerous journey and, ultimately, they arrived in the UK on the back of a lorry.

This bright and articulate young man, who states his gratitude for the safe haven his family have been granted, is now a success story in his own right and he wants to be a big hit amongst the little men of the sport.

On the night we will also officially welcome Masood Abdullah to the Queenberry team when he makes his debut at super featherweight.

Abdulah enjoyed a rapid rise through the amateur ranks that culminated in him winning the National Championships (formerly ABAs) last April – having previously won gold at the Three-Nations Championships – all inside of 30 fights.

The 26-year-old Islington man concluded his amateur stint on 34 fights, having last season also won the Novices, Development and Intermediate Elites, competing in 14 fights over a four-month period.

He is clearly a talent and I am looking forward to seeing him in action.

Completing the card is featherweight whirlwind Louie Lynn, who I suspect is ready to explode onto the next level and soon be right in the mix for titles. He punches hard, he’s all-action, relentless and, in my opinion, a future star of the sport. There is nothing not to like about him.

So there is our night mapped out for Friday 13th and, if any of our fighters are superstitious types, just steer clear of ladders and black cats in the meantime!

First fight was close, BT preferred the aggression of Heffron but most people I seen in Twitter preferred the cleaner smoother work of Bentley, expecting another fight to the wire, I'm thinking Bentley this time gets the nod in another close one, first fight was class hope the rematch delivers as well

3 undercard fights (including the Bourke fight)have been cancelled today due to COVID.

Fortunately the main event is still on and the undercard was already pretty weak.

handsofstone wrote: ↑10 Nov 2020, 18:19 First fight was close, BT preferred the aggression of Heffron but most people I seen in Twitter preferred the cleaner smoother work of Bentley, expecting another fight to the wire, I'm thinking Bentley this time gets the nod in another close one, first fight was class hope the rematch delivers as well

It was pretty close but I felt Bentley done enough to win it by a couple of rounds. I expect him to win here but I’ll be backing the draw. Backed the draw in play last time.

maverick23 wrote: ↑11 Nov 2020, 13:03 3 undercard fights (including the Bourke fight)have been cancelled today due to COVID.

Fortunately the main event is still on and the undercard was already pretty weak.

Seriously unprofessional from those who have tested positive

Currently Heffron v Bentley is the only fight on according to boxrec. Every other fight is somebody vs tba.

Black Sam Bellamy wrote: ↑11 Nov 2020, 18:21

maverick23 wrote: ↑11 Nov 2020, 13:03 3 undercard fights (including the Bourke fight)have been cancelled today due to COVID.

Fortunately the main event is still on and the undercard was already pretty weak.

Seriously unprofessional from those who have tested positive

Very

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑12 Nov 2020, 08:07

Black Sam Bellamy wrote: ↑11 Nov 2020, 18:21

maverick23 wrote: ↑11 Nov 2020, 13:03 3 undercard fights (including the Bourke fight)have been cancelled today due to COVID.

Fortunately the main event is still on and the undercard was already pretty weak.

Seriously unprofessional from those who have tested positive

Very

100% trying to wing it some of them

The remainder of the undercard looks poor. Furys opponent is 0-11. Turners opponent has been stopped in the first the last two times. Neither suitable for TV.

Black Sam Bellamy wrote: ↑12 Nov 2020, 13:40 The remainder of the undercard looks poor. Furys opponent is 0-11. Turners opponent has been stopped in the first the last two times. Neither suitable for TV.

There are 86 ranked light heavyweights in the Uk. Fury’s opponent is rated 85th out of those 86.

They're really not helping him with this matchmaking. Impossible to take his career seriously with opponents of this calibre.

good fight the first won i think denzel might of won it if i remember though it was a draw , but i think mark got caught by shot he should of avoided and has anther chance which i see him taking i think hefforn will win

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑21 Oct 2020, 03:38

maverick23 wrote: ↑20 Oct 2020, 15:58 The first fight was decent but I think they might be going over the top calling it ‘epic’!

Should be a good scrap.

You know we press Releases. Always hyping.

Do you know what time the main event is on ? And what/how much of the undercard will they be showing ?

When are you putting up the running order basically ?