Matt Maher: Tyler Denny's trading in work for a shot at boxing big-time

Tomorrow night the Rowley Regis middleweight will step through the ropes at Wembley Arena to face Brad Pauls, his fourth consecutive opponent with an unbeaten record. The previous three are no longer unbeaten.

“I’ve got the reputation now where promoters know I will fight anyone,” says Denny. “It keeps me motivated because I know I have an unbeaten guy in the other corner who doesn’t know how to lose and is going there to win.

“It pushes me to the next level. The higher the risk, the bigger the reward.”

The rewards have so far included the English title, with tomorrow his second defence following November’s unanimous points win over Bradley Rea in Manchester. Another victory would almost certainly secure a shot at the British.

The risk is defeat could quickly see Denny, who has been able to devote himself full-time to boxing for the past 18 months, back in his previous job as a plumber.

“Don’t get me wrong, plumbing is a great profession and it’s always there for me to fall back on,” he says, before adding with a smile: “But right now I’d much rather be boxing than fixing toilets.”

Denny claims to be currently living “his best life” and there is an excitement in the 31-year-old’s voice which confirms it.

A lifelong Newcastle United supporter, he has tickets for the Carabao Cup final and is hopes tomorrow will be the first part of a “Wembley double” for him and his team. Even competing at a venue as famous as the Arena would have felt unimaginable for the former Heathfield School student just a couple of years ago, in a professional career then exclusively centred around the small halls which had included two failed bids to claim the English crown.

The second of those, a tight but majority decision defeat to Linus Udofia in November 2019 – the first in his run of unbeaten opponents – proved something of a turning point.

When Denny returned to action against Derrick Osaze 18 months later, as boxing got back on its feet following the pandemic, his Brierley Hill-based sponsor S&R Construction offered to fund a month’s full-time training camp in the build-up.

“It went well,” explains Denny, who trains under Paul Mann at BCB Promotions’ Wednesbury gym. “I won the fight and they almost joked at the time I should take a year off for the next one.

“Then, as I got closer to my next fight against River Wilson-Bent, they offered it to me.

“It is quite simple. As long as I keep winning, they will keep on backing me. If I start losing, I am back to work.

“It’s no coincidence since going full-time I’ve had better performances,” adds Denny, a father of four. “It is hard working and fitting your boxing all around that.

“Of course, you still train hard but the big thing is the rest. Now I train in the morning, go home and chill out for a few hours.

“Before I was up at five o’clock, running, then working till half-four, then straight to the gym. When you’ve got children as well, it isn’t easy. I’ve got more time now to focus on my boxing.”

Not everything has gone smoothly. The fight against Coventry’s Wilson-Bent, in November 2021, saw Denny on the end of one of English boxing’s most egregious decisions of recent years, forced to accept a draw due to a stoppage wrongly judged to be down to a clash of heads, combined with some eye-opening scorecards.

“Boxing stinks,” he had roared that night into the Channel 5 cameras. “It makes you want to quit. I mean, what is the point? You’ve no chance, have you? I have punched him and his eye is bleeding and it’s still a draw! What more can you do?”

Time and patience proved a virtue. Denny won the rematch last June, before going on to beat Rea in his second straight fight in front of the Sky Sports cameras, another bout which took place in his opponent’s home town where he unquestionably entered as the underdog.

“Sometimes you do wonder why you bother but you can’t let it beat you,” he reflects now.

“The thing with Wilson-Bent made it all the sweeter when I did win.

“In hindsight, it worked out great. The first fight was Channel 5 and the rematch was on Sky.

“If that hadn’t happened, I might not have got that chance on Sky. I try and look at the positives. Otherwise, you would be tearing your hair out.”

In a sport where talk is often at its cheapest, there is something wonderfully refreshing about Denny’s straightforward, unfussy manner.

A fierce competitor, who admits he won’t even let his children win at Monopoly, he’s proven himself a talented boxer with a penchant for proving people wrong and upsetting the odds.

Just don’t expect to hear him bragging about it, or making bold predictions about what comes next.

“I don’t think too deeply. I just want to win my next fight,” he says. “You hear some boxers say they want to win this title, or that.

“I just enjoy it. It is always on the next fight. I don’t really have any targets.

“If you keep winning, the money and the belts will follow.

“I’m certainly not looking past Brad Pauls. It is a dangerous fight. You have to take care of business first.

“The Rea fight appealed to me because he had the platform as a Sky boxer. Beat him and you take his place.

“Now me and Brad both know it is almost a ‘winner-stops-on’ scenario. That is what we want. It’s a must-win for both of us, really.”

Everything is on the line again. Just the way Denny likes it.

“Nobody puts more pressure on me than myself,” he says. “If I lose, I probably have to go back to work. I’m motivated anyway but it does give you an extra push.

“It is a must-win and I embrace that pressure. I put it on myself to get the best out of myself.”