BENTLEY’S BACKING HIMSELF

DENZEL BENTLEY will look to be the next great British fighter to deliver a mammoth upset on away soil.

The London middleweight showed no fear in signing up to a showdown with WBO champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in Las Vegas.

He’s up against the odds but ready to roll the dice in the gambling mecca.

That shows the ambition and belief in Denzel (left) that we all know.

Too many fighters want to wait for vacant belts or take weaker opposition to nick a title.

But Denzel was ready to step up against the feared Kazakh knockout star.

There is a lot of talk about Alimkhanuly being an avoided fighter but there are no opponents on his CV which make you stand up and take notice.

His reputation is that of a feared puncher, but let’s see how he gets on against someone as brave and dangerous as my man.

There have been a few great British upsets on the road.

Lloyd Honeyghan beating Donald Curry is one of the most famous. But there was Alan Minter against Vito Antuoferno and John H Stracey beating Jose Napoles, too, in wild upsets from fighters from these shores on foreign soil. Of course there was Tyson Fury’s epic victory over Wladimir Klitschko, which at the time was a big upset, even if that has been forgotten about because of how much the ‘Gypsy King’ has done since.

Denzel may be up against the odds but he’s ready to strike it rich and hopefully will be coming home with a new belt on Monday.

Also good luck to Tommy Fury, who is out in Dubai to take on Paul Bamba as part of the Floyd Mayweather Jr exhibition event out there.