British boxer Tyler Denny is experiencing a rapid rise in the sport, having gone from working as a plumber just three years ago to now being featured on the Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois undercard at Wembley Stadium in September. In 2021 – at the age of 29 – Denny was plying his trade with Dudley Council, while pursuing his boxing dream on the side.
He was coming off a failed attempt to capture the English middleweight title from Linus Udofia and was preparing for a comeback bout against Derrick Osaze when a generous sponsor offered him the chance to focus on boxing full-time.
Denny described his incredible change in fortunes in an interview with TalkSport.
Tyler Denny Only Became A Full-Time Boxer Three Years Ago
The Black Country fighter has enjoyed a remarkable journey
“Yeah, I was working as a plumber in 2021 and boxing on the side,” Denny explained. I can’t thank a certain sponsor, SNR Construction, enough. For the Derrick [Osaze] fight he approached me and said ‘This is a big fight, have a month off work and he paid my wages for a month’. I won that fight and then he said ‘Oh, that was great, you need to have a year off work’.
“I was thinking ‘I can’t really have a year off work’ but then he said ‘I’ll look after you, quit your job, I’ll pay your wages for a year and if it doesn’t work out how you want it to work out then you can have a job with me’. So that was that I quit my job the next day.”
Denny’s victory over Osaze earned him another shot at the English title against River Wilson-Bent. That fight controversially ended in a technical draw when the referee deemed a cut on Wilson-Bent had been opened up due to a clash of heads, although it seemed to have been caused by a punch by Denny.
However, this may have been a blessing in disguise as the rematch led to another significant milestone in the British fighter’s career.
“I wouldn’t change anything about that first fight, because it’s weird how it all worked out. If we hadn’t drawn I don’t know where I’d be right now because what happened then was Hennessey came off Channel Five and the second fight was booked for June on Sky Sports with BOXXER.”
Denny won his rematch against Wilson-Bent in June 2022 and subsequently signed with BOXXER. Since then, the 32-year-old has been on an incredible run, racking up a six-fight winning streak which included capturing the European middleweight title from Matteo Signani.
The West Midlands-born boxer earned the biggest victory of his career last month when he overcame the odds to beat the previously undefeated Felix Cash to retain his European title. Following that win, Denny’s fairytale story continued when it was announced that he would be facing Hamzah Sheeraz as part of the star-studded undercard for the huge Joshua vs Dubois fight at Wembley on the 21st of September.
AJ vs Dubois facing offSpeaking of the moment he found out about the life-changing opportunity, Denny recalled: “I’ve had phone calls like this before – obviously nowhere near this scale – but it’s ended up not happening so I didn’t take much notice of it. But then on Monday, the phone went mad, it kept ringing.
“I knew it was happening when Ben Shalom rang me and then it was confirmed at half 10 on Tuesday night, that they needed me in London the next day [for the press conference]. I had promised the Mrs we would have some time together this week as I’d abandoned her with the kids for the last few weeks but I’ve not seen her once this week I don’t think. I’m sure she’ll get over it though.”
Sheeraz is considered by many as the top middleweight in Britain and is currently ranked as No.1 by the WBC, making him a clear favourite for the Wembley clash. However, it’s tough to write off Denny in his current form and it would be no surprise to see him once again upset the odds and continue his incredible rise in the boxing world.
