Mark Heffron is in “Tremendous spirits” after being forced to retire during his British middleweight title fight against Denzel Bentley on Friday night.
The 28-year-old (25-2-1, 19 KOs) went into the rematch in confident mood after their fight in September which ended in a draw. 95-95 was the verdict given on the night from the three judges but Heffron believed he had done enough to secure a victory.
As the two picked up business nearly nine weeks later many thought a similar battle would ensue but a right hand from Bentley in round two caused damage to Heffron’s left eye. By the end of round four he was told he could not continue such was the amount of swelling and his inability to see out of it. With four rounds completed Bentley was crowned the new British middleweight champion.
“We went as a matter of precaution straight to hospital after the fight to get the eye checked out. It’s fine. It’s one of those unfortunate, absolute freak injuries,” his manager and cutman Kevin Maree told Boxing Social on Sunday night.
“He did ten rounds with him [Bentley] and didn’t get a mark on him and he gets hit with pretty much the first good shot landed in the fight and it ends the fight. It’s a real shame. We worked on it at the end of the second round and it didn’t look great then.
When he came back after the fourth round the Doctor was ready to have a look at it. I knew she was in the wings waiting to look at it, but I had the minute to work on it. I heard [referee] Steve Gray say to the Doctor give him a minute to work on it. I think it must have been 30 seconds into the minute I just put Mark’s head on my chest and said I’m sorry mate.
It was getting worse as I was working on it. It was getting angry and it’s a horrible feeling because you feel like a failure. You feel like you’ve let him down because you’ve not been able to fix it like you’re some sort of miraculous surgeon but you’re just a guy with an eye iron. You feel sick that it’s your fault. It’s horrible but there’s nothing anybody or anyone could have done to fix that eye. It was just fight ending. It’s as simple as that.”
Heffron returned home to his family on Sunday, his eye having opened up a bit more.
“I spoke to him today [Sunday] and he says he’s a lot better. A lot of the swelling has gone down. It’s now like rainbow colours so he’s going to have that for a little while. Realistically he wouldn’t have been out again this year anyway. I told him to enjoy Christmas and get fat and we’ll deal with it from there.”
Maree doesn’t expect Bentley and his team to entertain a third fight. “If I’m managing Denzel Bentley, I’m saying dodge that bullet, why would you possibly go back,” says Maree. Next year will begin with a period of rebuilding for Heffron. A run-out before looking at the landscape at home or abroad. Bentley and Heffron will travel on different paths for now.
“I rate Denzel very highly, but he’s not experienced. I’m guessing he’ll sit on the British title for a while so that will tie up next year, so we’ll be forced to go in a different direction.
“There’s nothing that scares me in terms of Mark going up in levels if the opportunity presented itself. He’s got the power; he’s got the boxing ability. You look at people like Rocky Fielding he gets beat then he fights for a world title. Mark’s trainer Michael Jennings was with Jack Cullen last night [Saturday] and he was with him a few months ago when he fought Zak Chelli [to a draw] then he turns up last night and he beats John Docherty.
“Lots of fights are being made, not so many easy fights are being made so opportunities are presenting themselves. There might be something abroad, there might be something at home, you just don’t know. The first thing we’ll do is get Mark back and fit, get him out again and look at it from there. He’ll come back and get a run out and we’ll assess everything from there.”
While talking to Social Maree spoke in glowing terms of how Bentley, his manager Martin Bowers, and the rest of the team conducted themselves and recalled a Rocky-type scene when Maree and Heffron returned to the hotel from hospital.
“It was a very bizarre moment,” Maree began. “We got dropped off by the Uber after the hospital and we’re walking back towards the hotel and I see this figure in front of me and it’s Denzel Bentley. So, I shouted, ‘Hey, one more round you’. At that point he turned around, and he couldn’t see us because it was dark. I could see him looking and as he sees us walking closer, he comes over and gives Mark a big hug and makes sure he’s okay.”
He continued: “Denzel Bentley and his team are absolutely world class gentlemen. One of the first messages I got was from Martin his manager making sure we were okay, making sure if we needed anything while we were in London, making sure Mark was fine. Utter class.
“His team conducted themselves in a manner that I really enjoy working with. We wish Denzel the best. A third fight may happen down the road, but it’ll be when the lads have gone on and done things and hopefully, we can try for another belt because both lads have a future in the sport without question. I hope we see them again down the line for something big.”