Boxing
WBO Set to Strip Denzel Bentley After Missed Deadline, Report Says
A report citing WBO president Gustavo Olivieri says Bentley failed to commit to facing Yoenli Hernandez.
Denzel Bentley is set to lose his WBO middleweight championship after his team failed to confirm that he would face mandatory challenger Yoenli Hernandez, according to an October 24 report citing WBO president Gustavo Olivieri.
Reporter Darshan Desai said Olivieri confirmed that the WBO received no formal commitment within its 24-hour response window. The account, reproduced by MiddleEasy, describes intended action by the organization; it is not a newly published formal stripping order.
The report follows the WBO’s October 22 rejection of Bentley’s appeal against the mandatory defense. That notice required an answer within 24 hours of service of the award, rather than a fight within one day.
Bentley is separately scheduled to face Shane Mosley Jr. on November 7. That booking did not itself authorize an intervening title defense ahead of Hernandez.
Desai’s report did not identify a replacement opponent for Hernandez or announce a vacant-title contest. Those details remain unsettled in the cited update, while the reported stripping awaits a formal published order.
