Will the fairy tale continue for perennial underdog Tyler Denny?

By Oscar Pick

MIDDLEWEIGHT underdog Tyler Denny has overcome devastating setbacks to earn house benefit for his first European title defence towards Felix Cash this Saturday.

The 32-year-old is not any stranger to the away nook, however having not too long ago reignited his profession, he’ll deal with his followers to a 3rd consecutive showdown in the Black Country.

While he returns to the Resorts World Arena, Birmingham, as the champion, Denny finds himself, nonetheless, occupying a considerably acquainted place.

Before his unimaginable run of kind over the previous two years, the West Midlands southpaw was susceptible to fading into obscurity following two early defeats in English title fights.

Reece Cartwright handed him the first blemish again in 2018 when Denny was stopped in the eighth spherical after struggling injury to his proper eye.

It was then Linus Udofia – one other stable operator – who, simply over a yr later, edged a slender majority choice via 10 rounds, coming away from the York Hall as the newly-crowned English champion at 160 lbs.

By this level, it was tough to check a world by which Denny might earn a residing from the sport, not to mention one by which he would problem for and in the end win a European title.

Unlike in every other sport, a defeat in boxing may be catastrophic to a fighter’s profession.

The results of that are instantaneous, as no promoter – nor broadcaster, for that matter – needs to rebuild a fighter off the again of a loss.

For them, the course of is time-consuming and costly, which means the fighter will, most of the time, be swiftly forgotten as soon as their contract expires.

In Denny’s case, it was essential to rebound from his second skilled loss instantly, and he did so by outpointing Derrick Osaze earlier than, as soon as once more, being offered with a possibility to grab the vacant English title.

Standing in the reverse nook was River Wilson-Bent, who suffered a reduce over his left eye, bringing the bout to a detailed midway via the seventh spherical.

However, as an alternative of awarding Denny a stoppage victory, the referee dominated that the reduce was attributable to an unintended conflict of heads when, in actual fact, it was attributable to a punch.

So, when it went to the judges’ scorecards, and the battle resulted in a draw, Denny was left with two choices: to both return to his former job as a plumber and quit on any sporting ambitions or to chase a rematch with Wilson-Bent and declare the belt that has at all times remained simply past his attain.

Thankfully, he selected the latter and, after popping out on high in an enthralling 10-round contest, was lastly capable of resume his development as a fighter.

Denny then made his mark on the home scene – beating Bradley Rea, Brad Pauls and Macaulay McGowan – earlier than skipping a shot at the British title in a bid to tackle the vastly skilled European champion, Matteo Signani.

The contest headlined a present in November final yr at the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. Denny placed on a scintillating show en path to stopping his opponent in the eighth spherical, shining brighter than ever in entrance of his hometown supporters.

In a means, regardless of the enhancements he has made and the resolve it has taken for him to make it this far, there isn’t a lot that has modified for Denny.

When he faces his subsequent opponent, he’ll nonetheless be the perceived underdog on an away present, albeit one that’s nearer to the place he lives.

Regardless of Felix Cash’s inactivity lately, there’s each probability that he’s not to this point faraway from the formidable puncher who dispatched Denzel Bentley in three rounds again in 2021.

Moreover, Adam Booth’s appointment as his new coach means that his capability for enchancment remains to be very a lot there.

For Denny, then, Cash represents yet one more tough project.

But, with a behavior of proving folks improper, there may simply be a fairytale ending to his super story in spite of everything.