Denzel Bentley calls for WBO to elevate him to full world champion with Zhanibek Alimkhanuly currently suspended

Denzel Bentley has called on the WBO to elevate him to full world championship status.

The Londoner won the WBO Interim middleweight title with a stoppage victory over Endry Saavedra at the O2 earlier this month.

Bentley is an Interim titlist as Zhanibek Alimkhanuly, their middleweight world champion, is serving a one-year suspension from the WBO for failing a drug test.

The Briton however thinks Alimkhanuly should be stripped of the world title as part of his penalty and that he should be the WBO's middleweight champion now.

It's especially frustrating for Bentley who went the distance with Alimkhanuly in a 2022 world title fight.