Before he addresses the latest maddening round of boxing politics, Bentley reveals how he has dealt with genuine catastrophe and trauma. This buried pain places boxing’s shenanigans into sobering perspective because so many of his friends have been murdered on the street. Bentley has just been stripped of his WBO world middleweight title because the sanctioning body refused permission for him to defend his belt against Shane Mosley Jr this Saturday night at London’s Copper Box Arena.
The body rejected his appeal last Friday that he was entitled to face the world-ranked Mosley Jr rather than his mandatory challenger in a first title defence. Bentley admits to being “disappointed” and “I don’t feel as if I’ve been treated like a champion”; but he still intends to beat Mosley Jr in the first bout of a new six-fight deal with the American promoter Zuffa. But, as the 31-year-old talks in raw and moving detail, Bentley draws me back to the streets around his old council estate in Battersea where his friends were stabbed or shot dead.
I got out of a lot of trouble because of boxing. A lot of things happened on the estate and I was at the gym. I missed things by the skin of my teeth.
I’d be scared for my life. But, as a teenager, you become immune to it.” His expression mixes resignation and relief. Of course it’s sad and it hurts but I’ve lost friends more than once in the lead-up to a fight.
That time was crazy because my friend got stabbed by someone we knew who needed money. He saw my friend and tried to steal his watch. My friend turned round and said: ‘We know each other.
How can you try and rob me?’ They got into a scuffle and the other guy pulled out a knife and stabbed him multiple times. My friend died on the spot. The paramedics had arrived and the body was still there. [The dead man’s] brother was in bits.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
