Denzel Bentley is adamant he'll be fighting for a world title in 2025 and has earmarked June as the ideal time to do so, whether it's against old foe Janibek Alimkhanuly or not.

Current British and European champion Bentley (21-3-1, 17 KOs) is playing the waiting game right now and is sitting pretty as the WBO's No. 1 middleweight contender.

He hasn't been in action since a decision victory over Brad Pauls in January and initially wanted to keep himself active, but having conquered much of the domestic scene, Bentley finds himself at an impasse as he waits to see how the world title picture unfolds in the coming days.

The Ring's No. 1 middleweight Alkikhanuly (16-0, 11 KOs), who holds the WBO and IBF belts, is up against Anauel Ngamissengue (14-0, 9 KOs) this weekend on April 5 in Astana, Kazakhstan and is a huge favourite.

Bentley fought and lost to Alimkhanuly in a competitive encounter two-and-a-half years ago but now looks to be on the cusp of a rematch. Should the Kazakh man vacate his WBO belt, however, Bentley would be ordered to fight someone else, potentially the WBO's No. 2 middleweight Shane Moseley Jr, for the title.

"We just have to wait and see how he gets on when he defends his title in April. I've fought everyone domestically so I don't know who else to fight," Bentley told The Ring.

"Anyone else in WBO rankings? Not really. I haven't properly looked through. I've only seen the top 3 or 4 I think. There's good fights there but I'm number one with the WBO so it's going to be mandatory.

"I might as well just hold tight. There's no need for an eliminator because I'm already there. Do you know what I mean? He's fighting [this weekend] so it's not like he's fighting in the summer.

"If I'm fighting in June, I could fight in June for the world championship depending on what happens [with Alimkhanuly vs. Ngamissengue]. I'm 100 percent confident that I'll be fighting for a world title this year.

"If he doesn't vacate and he wants to fight later then obviously we get something booked in and if he does vacate I might end up fighting for a vacant title sooner."

Though the scorecards made it look like a comfortable evening for Alimkhanuly, Bentley arguably gave the champion the toughest fight of his career when they clashed in Las Vegas in November 2022.

Bentley believes he now has the experience to turn the result on its head if they ever meet again.

"Yeah, I was watching [the fight] yesterday. I was just running on the treadmill," Bentley added. "I was looking at it and I was thinking 'this is an inexperienced version of me'.

"I gave him a tough fight but I probably gave him the toughest fight because he underestimated me so I think the next time around if we do fight again he won't underestimate me and it'll be another tough fight but I'm willing to push him to the edge and I think I can beat him this time around.

"I just got to do a little bit more."