Denzel Bentley delivers brutal 45-second KO that leaves Kieran Smith unconscious

Denzel Bentley was not hanging around on the undercard of Joe Joyce vs Zhilei Zhang on Saturday night, as he scored a first round KO.

Taking on Kieran Smith at the Copper Box Arena in London, Bentley stopped his opponent within 45 seconds of the first round.

The British middleweight title was on the line, with Bentley having won it last year against Linus Udofia, and he retained his belt in spectacular fashion.

Bentley landed a thunderous left hook that wobbled Smith and then he followed up with a crushing right hand that saw the Scottish challenger immediately drop to the canvas.

The celebrations were muted, as Smith was attended to by paramedics, but thankfully he made it back to his feet inside the ring.

Speaking to BT Sport, he said: “45 seconds, I’m happy he’s okay. We have both put in so much hard graft in camp and I’m happy he’s okay and gets to fight another day.

“We were a bit cagey at the start, so I thought I’d let him throw shots first and get to know his range and speed. 

“As he got closer I knew he was going to bite. He bit and I threw a right hand and left hook, the left hook hurt him.

Most read in Boxing

“I didn’t want to rush it, so went to the body and delivered that right to the body and took him out.

This was the best possible outcome for Bentley who bounced back emphatically from a loss last time out against WBO middleweight world champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.

In that fight, Bentley surprised a number of boxing fans and pundits, after coming in as a heavy underdog, as he held his own and went the distance to show that he can compete against world class fighters.

Following this comeback victory tonight, Bentley will want to challenge for world honours once again, as he told talkSPORT in reference to the fight with Alimkhanuly: "I’ve proved that I’m at that level, but next time I get to that level I need to conquer it rather than just falling short.”

One fighter that Bentley's promoter, Frank Warren, has mentioned as a potential future fight for the British champion is against highly rated prospect Hamzah Sheeraz.

Sheeraz was ringside for Bentley's latest KO win, but he wasn't overly impressed, as he told Queensbury Promotions: "It was a good knockout.

"But, it's happened to Kieran before, so it was no surprise, I knew he'd get him out of there.

"That definitely wouldn't happen to me, for sure. If anything, it'd be the other way round."

ncG1vNJzZmiskaG4tLzOq6tnm5%2BifLS8zquraJqfrbavs45qanJtY26BcLDEp7GepF2Xsq%2FAy56wZpqiqsGiuIxtbGarlZi8r7CMpKZmrZ6YvK%2B%2FwqKmrqtf