From a car park to Wembley: Black Country's Tyler Denny set for dream Wembley fight

Tomorrow night, he fights in front of 96,000 people at Wembley Stadium, the latest chapter in one of the best, most unexpected British boxing stories of recent years.

The stuff dreams are made of?

“I think we’re beyond dreams, now,” smiles Denny. “I’d never have thought I’d be fighting at Wembley.”

Now he’s there, defending his European middleweight title against Hamza Sheeraz and determined to make the most of it.

“It is a massive opportunity,” he says. “But it is all about winning. I don’t just want to say I fought at Wembley – I want to say I have won at Wembley.

“I would rather fight at Walsall Town Hall and win, than fight at Wembley and lose. I have to win. That is the main thing.”

It was that June 2021 meeting with Derek Osaze, staged on the car park of Sheffield Arena in a world emerging from the final throes of lockdown, which started Denny’s rapid rise from handy small town operator to being in the chief support bout in the UK’s largest ever stadium show.

Only Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois have bigger billing than Denny, who combined the first half of his boxing career with his day job as a Sandwell council plumber before sponsorship from Brierley Hill firm S&R Construction and the opportunity to train full-time transformed his journey.

Osaze was the first of five previously unbeaten opponents he has overcome in an eight-fight run where the odds against him kept getting longer and the stage larger, yet each time, Denny pulled off the upset. Last November he beat Italy’s Matteo Signani at Wolverhampton Civic Hall to claim the EBU belt and then defended it against Felix Cash, a fighter once tipped to challenge for world honours, in June.

The record is why the Rowley Rocky nickname, which at least one PR firm has attempted to make stick in the build-up to Wembley, is entirely inappropriate for Denny. He hasn’t come from nowhere.

“It’s not like I have fluked this,” he says. “I have beaten good fighters and am bringing the European title to the table.

“I will be boxing like I am there on merit. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for the opportunity but if someone deserves it, I believe it is me.”

Denny was first told about the possibility of fighting Sheeraz within 24 hours of beating Cash. The following Tuesday night he got a phone call telling him to be at Wembley the next day for the official announcement.

“There were more people at the press conference than there have been at some of my fights!” laughs Denny, who boxed five times at The Venue in Dudley and on six occasions at Walsall Town Hall in the early part of his career.

Elements of the build-up have been, in his words, surreal. Denny and other boxers on the bill all starred in a gangster-themed promotional video, directed by Guy Ritchie, which began with them all having seemingly met a grisly end before coming back to life and singing Sweet Caroline while boxing their captors.

“I was dreading the singing,” says Denny. “When I watched the video back and heard everyone else’s voices I was thinking ‘bloody hell, they can sing’.

“But when I came on, I could sing too. So I realised everyone has probably got a terrible voice really!”

Yet other than those lessons in autotune, the focus has been purely on the fighting, Denny trusting the words of head trainer Paul Mann at the BCB Promotions gym in Wednesbury, the environment in which he and others have thrived.

“I have been that busy with the training and stuff, Wembley does not really get mentioned,” he replies, when asked how he will strike the balance between enjoying the occasion and making sure he delivers his best performance.

“I just try to forget about it, though I know there is a lot to forget about.

“I am quite a relaxed, chilled guy so I don’t think it will be too much. I will enjoy it. But I think it is more in the memory bank. You enjoy it more afterward.

“I believe in myself, the team believe in me and that is the major thing in a fight like this.”

Denny is not the type to get nervous, no matter how bright the spotlight, or how long the ring walk.

“I just get excited, if anything,” he says. “I think: This is what I have been working for, for the last 10 or 12 weeks, so let’s go.

“Sometimes I have make myself a bit nervous. I am sitting there yawning 10 minutes before walking out to the ring.

“But what will be, will be. I know have put everything into camp, every single day. That is where I get my confidence from. If a guy is better than you, he is better than you. It is up to you to find a way to win. But I don’t really get nervous, no.”

His demeanour certainly seems no different from previous fights. His star might have risen but the dad-of-four still has to go and pick the kids up from school. Son Blaine initially refused to believe dad was going to be boxing at Wembley.

“He said: ‘No Dad, Wembley’s football!’. I have finally convinced him now,” said Denny. “I showed him a picture of Anthony Joshua fighting there.

“To be fair I can understand why he was sceptical because it is hard for me to get my head round at times. The last time I was there was when Newcastle lost the League Cup final to Manchester United. I am hoping for a better result this time around!”

Money feels an unavoidable topic of conversation. This is comfortably the biggest payday of Denny’s career and has meant he and partner Emmaleigh will be able to complete a long-planned house move a little earlier than expected. But you suspect no amount could ever drastically change his life.

“I do the same stuff, whether I have got a fight or not, or a bit more money,” he says. “I go to the gym, pick the kids up, that is all I do.

“I am a bit too tight to go around splashing money on clothes anyway. The best things in life for me, money can’t buy.

“For example, my son has football training in a bit and I can’t wait to take him. He had his first game of the season on Sunday and I was buzzing for it more than he was. I get excited for stuff like that. Those are the best things for me in life.”

One thing Denny says the money will allow is a little more freedom of choice when he eventually decides to hang up the gloves.

Not that he has any plans for that anytime soon. A big part of Denny’s success, you suspect, is his humble attitude and a refusal to set any targets beyond the next fight yet should he beat Sheeraz, a world title shot might very well beckon.

The bookmakers don’t give him much chance, with Sheeraz priced as low as 10-1 on to win.

It’s understandable, when looking at the Essex fighter’s record of 20 wins from 20 fights, including 16 inside the distance.

Denny would be the first to admit the 25-year-old, eight years his junior and five inches taller, represents the toughest challenge of his career to date.

Yet having won so many times as the underdog, you can also understand his confidence.

“I don’t take it personally,” he says of the odds. “I can see why I am the underdog. He has won 20 out of 20 and knocked 16 out.

“But it is a different game when you are in there. The stats make no odds. I will just go in there and believe in myself.”

Tomorrow won’t be the first time Denny and Sheeraz have shared a ring. They sparred together in the spring, at a time when any possible meeting seemed a long way away.

“We actually messaged each other before our last fights, each wishing the other luck,” smiles Denny. “I think it was pretty clear no-one had a clue we would be fighting each other.

“He is a good guy, but this is boxing. You put the friendship aside and will punch each others heads in when the bell goes.

“I don’t let anything get to me. I probably underthink too much. I put pressure on myself to win because I like my lifestyle.

“But there is no unnecessary pressure. It is about enjoying it, just going out there and doing my thing.

“This is what I have been doing since I was 16.

“A fight is a fight to me, whether it is at Wembley or on a car park. When the bell goes, you are switched on and that is it.”