Britain’s Denzel Bentley has been elevated to full WBO middleweight champion after Janibek Alimkhanuly relinquished the belt.
The WBO said Kazahkstan boxer Alimkhanuly, who was suspended for a year after testing positive for a banned substance in December, needs to transfer up to tremendous middleweight.
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Bentley, 31, beat Endry Saavedra in April to change into the interim WBO middleweight champion.
“Great news for Denzel Bentley,” mentioned promoter Frank Warren. “A huge achievement for him, [manager] Martin Bowers and the whole team.
“Said again in April he grabbed the chance when it got here, one which was totally deserved. Congratulations, champ!”
Bentley has 22 wins, three defeats and a draw from his 26 professional fights.
A statement from the WBO said that “no obligatory championship defence has been happy within the middleweight division for greater than two years” and that it “reserves willpower of whether or not the champion’s first defence shall be obligatory or voluntary by subsequent ruling”.
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It added that the mandatory challenger for the belt was 29-year-old Yoenli Hernandez, of Cuba.