QUEENSBERRY’S show at the York Hall on Friday night is topped by a 10-rounder between unbeaten heavyweights. David Adeleye and Dmytro Bezus are both 10-0 going into a fight screened live on BT Sport.
For both it is their first fight over the distance and to prepare, Adeleye has been in Florida for five weeks sparring Adam Kownacki, Carlos Negron, Andrew Tabiti and more.
Trainer Frank Greaves joined him for the last three weeks and will have Darrell Chambers alongside him in the corner at York Hall.
Chambers, who fought out of the Kronk gym under Emanuel Steward in his 22-2 pro career, has assisted SugarHill Steward and was there when Adeleye sparred Tyson Fury.
Adeleye has also sparred Anthony Joshua and, after only around 30 amateur bouts, he made his pro debut in December, 2019.
He’s won nine of his first 10 early and Friday is a huge night for Adeleye, an ambitious 26-year-old from Ladbroke Grove, West London. From the start, one of the questions has been how, at 6ft 4ins tall and around 24lbs, will he cope with the bigger heavyweights?
Bezus is a bigger heavyweight. He stands 6ft 6 ½ins tall and at around 275lbs, he could outweigh Adeleye by 40 lbs.
Bezus isn’t just a big lump. He can move in and out – though is not fleet of foot – and has a decent punch output.
Bezus doesn’t always punch his weight, however. He was taken the full six by Frenchman Marcel Dessaux, previously bombed out in two by Nathan Gorman, despite having a 51lbs weight advantage.
Adeleye and Bezus are untested over the longer distances;
Both have only been past four rounds once with neither getting past six.
Based in Latvia, Bezus is from the Ukraine, where he started out as a kickboxer, like the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali.
Bezus won the amateur world Muay Thai super-heavyweight title in 2009 and as a pro, he has fought on Glory, the sport’s leading platform.
Unlike the Klitschkos, Bezus didn’t have an extensive amateur boxing career and didn’t make his pro debut until he was 30 years old, in November, 2019. He celebrates his 34th birthday a month after the fight with Adeleye.
He had a points win over Obidjon Tokhirov (2-0-1) in Istanbul last June, while the best wins on Adeleye’s record are his narrow and controversial points win over gatekeeper Kamil Sokolowski (10-21-2) and a four-round stoppage of Dominik Musil (6-3), a fighter subsequently bombed out in one by Johnny Fisher.
Greaves says Friday night’s fight with Bezus may play out the same way as the Musil fight, in November, 2021. He expects Adeleye to concede around the same amount of weight – 31lbs – and predicts a similar outcome.
He says Adeleye plans to “keep him off balance and soften him up with the jab and then start loading up after three or four rounds.
“Bezus comes forward, but he doesn’t do it quickly. He gives you a lot of target to aim at and I think he will be surprised by how quick and hard David can punch.”
The Musil fight was at York Hall and so was Adeleye’s last fight, a second-round stoppage of game-but-outgunned Mexican Elvis Garcia (9-3) last November.
Adeleye dropped Garcia three times in the second round after hurting him early in the session and never letting him recover.
There was talk of Adeleye boxing German Michael Wallisch – previously beaten over here by a rusty Joe Joyce – on the Tyson Fury-Dereck Chisora III undercard last December.
That didn’t happen and Bezus looks a stiffer test. Wallisch has possibly been softened up by his losses, while Bezus brings a winning fighter’s mentality.
He is also hardened by his combat fighting experience, but as Greaves says, Bezus is there to be hit. Against Tokhirov, Bezus came forward with his lead hand low and shipped rights.
Adeleye could have success with a similar punch, as long as he doesn’t look for it too much, as he did against Sokolowksi, who was able to read his intentions after being tagged in the opening round.
Adeleye admitted his mistake afterwards, saying: “I was sitting on the back foot teeing off. I didn’t jab.” Greaves also believes his fighter was “overcooked” that night having spent too long in the gym. He has seen improvement in the four fights since.
Adeleye looked patient and polished when breaking down Musil and Stockport southpaw Chris Healey (9-8) and we will go for him to do the same to Bezus and get the stoppage around the midway mark.
On a busy night for Queensberry, unbeatens Mark Chamberlain and Henry Turner are also in 10-round action.
Of the two, Chamberlain, a stiff-hitting southpaw from Portsmouth who’s stopped seven of 11 so far without looking for the KO, is matched tougher.
The 24 year old faces Vairo Lenti, a former unbeaten Italian lightweight champion who’s won his last three.
Lenti was matched with 9-0 southpaw Gianluca Picardi for the vacant Italian title in April, 2021 after losing three of his previous six – and pulled off the upset.
Lenti won 96-94 on all the cards and deservedly so.
He boxed around Picardi early on and then outworked him down the stretch.
Lenti looks to do the basics well enough. He has a tight guard, quick jab and good engine and he’s never been stopped.
Chamberlain, ruled out of boxing last October with a shoulder injury, got a breakthrough win last time out, outpointing Marc Vidal, a 33-year-old former European featherweight champion, last July.
Chamberlain shook up the Spaniard early, then took a few himself as the proud veteran fought back before punishing him down the stretch.
There were some one-sided rounds from the seventh onwards.
Chamberlain won clearly on the cards and can do so again on Friday night.
Turner, a polished southpaw who won the 2016 European Junior title and is well thought of in the trade, meets 36 year old Spaniard Zeus De Armas (15-2-1).
Turner had an exclamation-mark KO last time out, flattening
Argentine Jorge Abel Bermudez (11-3) in the second with a southpaw and has stopped two of his last three after winning his first six on points.
The 22 year old is a polished technician who works the body well and walks opponents onto his back hand.
The likelihood is, Turner will be too good for De Armas, who won his first 12 against opponents with losing records, but is 3-2-1 in his last six.
He has been stopped twice and Turner can stop him as well.
