Darshan Desai Uncrowned Sat, October 31, 2026 at 2:33 AM UTC · 1 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Denzel Bentley's 102-day title reign is over without a single defense.
WBO president Gustavo Olivieri confirmed to Uncrowned on Friday that Bentley has been stripped of his WBO middleweight title.
Britain's Bentley captured the interim title in April with a seventh-round TKO of Endry Saavedra. He was elevated in July following ex-champion Janibek Alimkhanuly's decision to continue his career at super middleweight.
After Bentley's upgrade, an order came for him to defend his belt against No. 1 contender Yoenli Hernandez. The fight went to a purse bid, and Warriors Boxing, the lone bidder, won the rights for a minimum of $200,000. Bentley would've been entitled to just $150,000.
Just days later, Bentley confirmed he had switched from Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions — with whom he was working on a fight-by-fight basis — to Dana White's Zuffa Boxing and would debut for the company in London on Nov. 7 against Shane Mosley Jr. instead of fighting Hernandez.
The loss of Bentley's title became imminent, but it was delayed after the Brit followed through with the WBO's appeal process in a last effort to keep his championship. The WBO Complaint and Grievance Committee denied Bentley's appeal on Oct. 22 and officially relieved him of his belt Friday.
The WBO is now expected to order Hernandez to fight for the vacant title. Although No. 2 contender Vito Mielnicki Jr. and No. 3 contender Tim Tszyu are ranked ahead of Michael Zerafa, Uncrowned understands that it will likely be Zerafa facing Hernandez for the vacant strap.
Source: Sports
