Undefeated Janibek Alimkhanuly 13-0 (8 KOs) was forced to dig deeper than expected to earn a unanimous decision victory over British Middleweight Champion Denzel Bentley 17-1-1 (14 KOs) on Saturday night at the Pearl Theater at The Palms Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Bentley came into the bout as a 20:1 underdog to challenge Alimkhanuly for his WBO 160lb title but offered a gallant performance giving the champion all he could handle throughout the fight. Alimkhanuly managed to break through and visible shake Bentley in the final round but was unable to register a stoppage. Scores were 116-112, 116-112, 118-110.
Alimkhanuly gave Bentley huge praise afterwards, stating that ‘Anything can happen in the ring, he came well prepared, I respect my opponent because he was completely prepared, he was 100 percent, but I am a champion and I fought all 12 rounds as a champion…I am ready for any champion, for unifications. I am ready. Let’s fight.’
A subdued Bentley stated, ‘thought I was in the fight, in the fifth round, my coach told me we weren’t in front and to pick up the pace, so I picked up the pace.” Bentley must go away from this experience with so much confidence, very little was actually expected of him and he gave an excellent account of himself.
This was the first title defense for Alimkhanuly, who picked up the WBO strap when he was elevated from interim champion when Demetrius Andrade opted to move up in weight rather than defend against him.
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