Recaps from London where Bentley, Noakes, and Okolie Emerged Victorious

Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions was at Wembley Arena in London tonight with a card headlined by two regional title fights. In the main event, middleweight Denzel Bentley improved to 21-3-1 (27) and became a three-time British champion with a hard-earned unanimous decision over Brad Pauls (19-2).

This was fan-friendly fight from the opening bell. Bentley (pictured) won the early rounds but Pauls fought his way back into the fight before fading late. In round 10, Pauls went down from a trio of short right hands, one of which appeared to damage his left eye, but he survived the rounds and had a few good moments before the match concluded. The judges had it 117-110, 116-111, and 115-112.

Denzel Bentley is best known to U.S. fight fans for going 12 hard rounds in a losing effort vs Janibek Alimkhanuly. With the win tonight, Bentley is expected to earn a rematch with Alimkhanuly who now holds two pieces of the world middleweight title.

Co-Feature

In a match sanctioned for the British lightweight title, Sam Noakes won a lopsided decision over Ryan Walsh. The judges had it 119-109 and 120-108 twice in a bout that wasn’t nearly as monotonous as one would have inferred from the scorecards. Walsh, a former British featherweight champion coming off his career-best win, a first-round stoppage of Reece Mould, was game to the core.

Noakes, now 16-0, had stopped 14 of his first 15 opponents, inviting comparisons to Gennady Golovkin, but he was forced to go the full “12” by the 38-year-old Walsh (29-5-1) who has never been stopped.

Back-to-back heavyweight fights ended in the same fashion with the victor scoring a one-punch knockout in the opening frame.

The BBBofC title fight between challenger David Adeleye and belt-holder Soloman Dacres lasted only 80 seconds. Adeleye, in his first fight since being TKOed by Ipswich knockout artist Fabio Wardley in October of last year, landed a lead left hand on the top of Dacres head. Dacres, fell straight back, landing hard against the ropes, and was deemed in no condition to continue.

Adeleye, who was making his first start with the noted trainer Adam Booth in his corner, improved to 13-1 (12 KOs). It was the first pro loss for Dacres (9-1).

Lawrence Okolie, in his debut as a heavyweight and his first fight under the Queensberry banner, carried 260-½ pounds on six-foot-five frame. He looked soft, as one would expect of a fighter who had spent virtually his entire career competing as a cruiserweight. However, he carried the poundage well as his opponent, Germany’s Hussein Muhamed, could well attest.

After two messy minutes of mostly wrestling, Okolie brought the match to a swift conclusion with a counter right hand that left Muhamed sprawled on the canvas. It was all over at the 2:14 mark.

It was the second straight first-round knockout for Okolie (26-1, 16 KOs) who ventured to Poland in his previous start and blasted out Lukasz Rozanski to gather in the WBC’s bridgerweight bauble. It was the second pro loss for Muhamed who entered the ring with a misleading 18-1 record.

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