Brad Pauls vs Denzel Bentley: Who’ll leave Wembley as British middleweight champion at Magnificent 7 – London?

Brad Pauls vs David Bentley: full fight card

• Brad Pauls vs Denzel Bentley – for British, WBA continental, WBO international middleweight championships
• Sam Noakes vs Ryan Walsh – for the British, commonwealth and WBO international lightweight championship
• Solomon Dacres vs David Adeleye – for English heavyweight championship
• Pierce O’Leary vs TBA – for the WBC international super-lightweight championship
• Lawrence Okolie vs Hussein Muhamed
• Sean Noakes vs Mathew Rennie – for English welterweight championship
• Aloys Youmbi vs Lewis Oakford – for WBA continental and commonwealth silver cruiserweight championships

The iconic OVO Arena at Wembley hosts ‘Magnificent 7 – London’, as Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions brings a stacked line-up of fights that showcase the strength in depth of British boxing.

The event takes place at the iconic OVO Arena, Wembley, which has hosted plenty of memorable boxing nights in the capital over the years. On Saturday night, Warren brings seven excellent domestic dust-ups to the famous old venue in an event you can watch or stream live on TNT Sports in the UK.

With six title fights, plus Lawrence Okolie's heavyweight debut, it should deliver on entertainment. Titles will be decided and careers elevated, on a big night of British boxing. 

The main event features a battle for the British middleweight title, with both Brad Pauls and Denzel Bentley looking to end the weekend with championship gold around their waist and the WBO’s number-one ranking alongside their name.

Tale of the tape: Brad Pauls vs Denzel Bentley

Brad Pauls: Can ‘The Newquay Bomb’ blast his way to the top of the WBO rankings?

Less than four months on from capturing the British middleweight title, WBA Continental champion ‘The Newquay Bomb’ Brad Pauls returns to the ring looking to add more belts to his collection.

He’ll take on WBO International middleweight champion and former British champ Denzel Bentley in a bout that could position him perfectly for a shot at the WBO 160-pound title in 2025 but against Bentley, he faces similarly experienced opposition and a man with plenty of stopping power.

After rising through the ranks and capturing the Southern Area middleweight title, Pauls lost out to Tyler Denny on the scorecards as he missed out on capturing the English middleweight crown last February. But, since that loss – the only defeat on his record – Pauls has been in excellent form.

He rebounded to capture the vacant English title by handing Mitchell Pearson the first defeat of his pro career and battled to a split draw with British champion Nathan Heaney in March. 

An immediate rematch was a no-brainer and Pauls made amends in the return bout as he dropped Heaney in the fourth round en route to a 12th-round TKO finish as he added the British title to his resume. Now ranked at No. 2 by the WBO, he faces the sanctioning body’s No. 1 Bentley this weekend.

Denzel Bentley: Will Wandsworth’s finest be ‘2 Sharp’ for Pauls?

Denzel Bentley is a man on a mission heading into Saturday night’s main event. The 29-year-old is a two-time British middleweight champion looking to capture the famous old title for the third time but his motivation extends beyond domestic honours.

Bentley is the number-one contender in the WBO’s middleweight rankings and sees his bout with number-two-ranked Pauls as the perfect springboard for a championship rematch with the man who dashed his world title dreams, WBO world champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.

Bentley lost out on the scorecards after going the distance with the unbeaten Kazakh In Las Vegas back in November 2022. A decisive victory over Pauls this weekend could put him back in line for a championship rematch.

Brad Pauls vs Denzel Bentley: The key factors

The bout offers a fascinating clash between two British fighters who have proved themselves on the domestic stage but are yet to make a breakthrough on the world stage. However, there are some key differentiating factors between the two that offer a route to a viable bet.

Both men have excellent records, with Pauls’ 19-1-1 looking marginally more impressive than Bentley’s 20-3-1 but the key difference between the pair is the level of opposition they have faced. While Pauls’ resume offers plenty of high-level domestic opponents, Bentley has ventured higher up boxing’s food chain during his career. 

Bentley may have lost to world champion Alimkhanuly but he stands as the only fighter to go the distance with the undefeated world champion in his last 10 outings. That experience will only have improved him as a fighter as he learned the toughness, durability and smarts required to go to the scorecards with the WBO champ. 

The other key factor is knockout power. Despite having a somewhat higher-calibre resume, Bentley also possesses a significantly better knockout percentage. ‘2 Sharp’ has a KO rate of 85%, compared to Pauls’ solid 58%. That punching potency, coupled with his superior strength of schedule gives him the edge in this contest.

FIRST’s top tip for Brad Pauls vs Denzel Bentley

The momentum edge in the main event is with Pauls but Bentley has kept higher company in his career. That higher-level experience, coupled with his superior finishing rate, means we’ll lean towards ‘2 Sharp’ to be a little too experienced and too powerful for Pauls.

PICK: DENZEL BENTLEY TO DEFEAT BRAD PAULS @ 33/50 (Mr.Play)

Extra tips

The heavyweight debut of Lawrence Okolie is sure to generate plenty of attention on fight night but the odds on him (2/25 with Mr.Play) are a bit too stingy to justify picking him up as a single. However, he’s certainly worth throwing into a fight night acca to help enhance the odds with an additional leg.

A four-leg acca featuring Okolie, Bentley, David Adeleye and Sam Noakes pays out at odds of 211/100 (Mr.Play). For a quartet of decent favourites, that’s not a bad return.

Odds correct at the time of writing.