Denzel Bentley has told SunSport how he was favourite to win the British title in the throes of defeat – despite fearing his 3lb son would lose the fight for life.
Last November the Battersea middleweight was adjudged to have dominated Stoke hero Nathan Heeney and defended his Lonsdale Belt with relative ease.
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But Haney produced a stunning performance to upset the 29-year-old Bentley’s world title run.
In trademark Peacock Jim style, Bentley refused to use his personal plight – and that of tiny Cairo – as an excuse.
For nearly a year SunSport was happy to leave this painful story untold regarding Heaney’s performance and Bentley’s secrecy.
But as the little one approaches his first birthday, we asked Daddy Cool to look back at the events.
Bentley explained: “The fight was on November 18 and he was supposed to be in the second or last week of November, and then he got six weeks earlier in mid-October.
“But I had already agreed to the fight and I was already in camp, we had about six weeks done and there was about three weeks left and then, all of a sudden, he came up.
“I didn’t know what to do. It was very traumatic for me and my wife, because the way he came, the doctors were saying if we had made him wait another 30 minutes he might not have survived.
“He was in intensive care for about 10 days, so I’ve only been going gym-hospital-home.
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“I shut out everything else, nothing else mattered, I forgot everything else.
“It was a mess and then as soon as I got him home I had to go to Manchester for fight week and the fight.
“I really didn’t want to be there, I wanted to be home with my son.
“I spent every minute on the phone with my wife asking what’s the news, what are the updates, what did the midwife say, how much does he weigh — because he weighed less than 4 pounds — is he healthy, is he on track, is he behind?
“And – because I can’t physically be there – I just want to finish the fight and go home.
“I probably should have pulled out of the fight, but if I could have gotten back in time I would have gotten back into the fight – because I don’t want to live with regrets.
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“I had to work hard and I underestimated Nathan because I thought I could beat him even on my worst day.
“But it was my fault, it’s no excuse, I thought I could beat him.
“I didn’t want to use it as an excuse, I see fighters make excuses and I don’t like that.
“I didn’t want to talk about it until I got back and did some proper performances that showed that different mindsets produce different performances.”
When will this little terrorist learn that he played a key role in derailing his father’s career for a while?
Bentley laughed and said: “He has a month left.”
“When he’s a year old, he’ll be able to hear what he’s done and a clip will be put on his ear.”
In a very serious tone, the old fighter and loving parent told us, “My son never asked me to bring him here.
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“I brought him into this world, so it’s my job to make sure he’s safe and can live the life he deserves.”
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