DENZEL BENTLEY has been told to play the waiting game in his quest for revenge against Ring Magazine No.1 Janibek Alimkhanuly.

The 30-year-old’s last outing came back in December, when he outpointed Brad Pauls to win the British middleweight title for a third time as well as the European title.

The victory was also the second defense of his WBO international belt and that sanctioning body now have him ranked as No.1 contender to their champion Janibek, the brilliant 16-0 (11) Kazakh southpaw.

Bentley has already lost to the 31-year-old, in what was the Londoner’s first step up to world level. But despite being a huge underdog, Bentley gave a good account of himself albeit in a unanimous decision defeat at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas in November 2022.

Now, more than two years on, Bentley is hoping for a second bite at the cherry and his promoter Frank Warren has carefully steered him back to the No.1 spot.

He has to wait his turn, however, with Janibek already slated to face Anauel Ngamissengue on April 5 in his Kazakhstan homecoming fight at the Barys Arena in the nation’s capital of Astana.

It means Bentley is unlikely to get the nod until deep into 2025 but Warren has advised his fighter to be patient, just like Frank Bruno did in the 16 months between beating Joe Bugner in 1987 and facing Mike Tyson for the world heavyweight title in 1989.

Warren told the Ring: “Denzel is in the No.1 spot so we just have to keep him ticking over until he gets that shot. Everyone just has to be patient with Denzel.

“We will look to get him out before that world title fight but we need patience. We have to just take our time. I remember with Frank Bruno, he waited over a year before he got his shot. You just have to trust the process and sit tight.

“Janibek is the champion and Denzel did well in the first fight against him and it will be another tough fight. But Denzel wants to fight for the world title so that’s who he has to go through.

“Janibek is defending in Kazakhstan so he still has to get that out of the way then we will see. Maybe after that he will vacate and move up, who knows? Denzel will be ready to fight for the world title at that point whatever happens.”

Bentley has been regularly linked with a domestic showdown with Hamzah Sheeraz, although that looks unlikely with the Ilford man now planning a move up to super-middleweight. A more low-key outing is probable now, before he is finally handed the world title shot.

Warren added: “Denzel will have a fight in the interim but we have worked hard to get him in that position so we don’t want to throw all that away with the wrong fight now. We are looking at dates for him at the moment.”