Bentley looked on course for a straightforward victory when he dropped his fellow middleweight contender heavily in the second round.

But Mosley dug deep to ensure that Bentley had to work for every minute of this 10-rounder.

On October 30, Bentley was stripped of his WBO title after he decided to press on with this clash instead of fulfilling his mandatory obligations against No. 1 contender Yoenli Hernandez.

The Londoner, whose reign lasted just 102 days and did not involve throwing any punches whatsoever, insisted his life had not changed as a result of the WBO’s decision. Instead, he maintained his focus on marking his Zuffa Boxing debut with a victory over Mosley at Copper Box Arena in the chief support of Chris Billam-Smith against Chev Clarke.

In the end, it was closer than he might have wanted with scores of 96-94, 95-94 and 96-93 in his favor.

“I felt like I was fighting the whole of boxing because of a few decisions made recently after I signed with Zuffa,” Bentley said.

After two range-finding right hands early in the second round, Bentley made his breakthrough with a textbook left hook-right hand combination which put Mosley over.

The 35-year-old managed to beat the count but a stoppage looked imminent as Bentley poured forward in search of the finish. But Mosley dug deep to stay on his feet and even managed to push Bentley back to the ropes and finish the round with success of his own.

Mosley emerged for the third on steady legs and attempted to work behind his jab. Bentley’s output was low behind a peekaboo guard but he was landing the more eye-catching shots through an even fourth. Even so, Bentley was happy to spend most of the fifth circling around the outside, allowing Mosley to follow him around the ring. It was a regular pattern throughout the fight.

From such a deep crisis in the second, Mosley had somehow worked his way back into the fight and he was starting to outwork Bentley in the sixth and it was a similar story in the seventh. Bentley seemed to hurt Mosley every time he landed but the attacks were few and far between.

Even a deep cut above Mosley’s right eye was doing little to slow him down and as the fight entered its final stages it felt like the Las Vegas resident might be doing enough to snatch this victory from the jaws of what looked like a crushing defeat.

Mosley continued to walk Bentley down in the ninth and, although he never seemed to hurt his opponent, he was the busier of the two. But Bentley provided a reminder of his power midway through the round when a short right hand stiffened up the visitor’s legs again. Bentley even spent much of the round in southpaw in a bid to show his level of control.

Bentley was back in orthodox and against the ropes in the 10th as Mosley stomped forward in search of a knockdown of his own. But he got another big right hand for his troubles as Bentley countered beautifully. It was one of Bentley’s best rounds of the fight and it cemented his win.

When asked who he wants to fight next, Bentley mentioned fellow Zuffa fighters Aaron Mckenna, the IBF champion, and Carlos Adames, the WBC champion, but then turned to a fellow British middleweight at ringside.

“I’d love a world title shot ... but If it’s not one of the champions, there’s another middleweight sat right there,” he said, pointing at Conor Benn.

“Any day of the week,” Benn replied.

Da’Mazion Vanhouter made it seven first-round knockouts from his last eight outings as he saw off Ivan Balaz in a little over two minutes.

The 21-year-old has been tipped as a future star of American heavyweight boxing and he showed another glimpse of his potential against the once-beaten Slovakian.

Balaz (9-2, 7 KOs) had shown ambition from the outset and made a decent start but it did not take long for Vanhouter (14-0, 11 KOs) to find a home for his left hook to the body, which dropped his opponent instantly.

Balaz managed to climb to his feet just before referee Kieran McCann completed his count but Vanhouter marched straight back in and landed the very same shot. Balaz went down again before clambering to his feet but the writing was on the wall. When another body shot put Balaz down for a third time, McCann did not bother with a count. The official time of the stoppage was 2:04.

“I felt great in there,” Vanhouter said. “I felt amazing all week. Of course I’d love to come back to the UK, the fans are great.”

Sam Hickey maintained his march towards a glorious Dundee homecoming by stopping Amaury Massenaux in four rounds.

Middleweight prospect Hickey (7-0, 4 KOs) told The Ring this week that after fighting exclusively outside of Scotland since turning professional, he is hoping Zuffa Boxing and Sky Sports take their show on the road to his home city.

And he did those chances no harm by handling business in his second outing at London’s Copper Box.

The 26-year-old had been expecting to face Troy Coleman here but a late injury meant that Belgian Amaury Massenaux (16-5-1, 4 KOs) was drafted in at late notice. And, backed by a noisy contingent of traveling fans, Hickey dropped the visitor midway through the fifth before forcing referee Lee Every to step in after 2:31 of the round.

“I’m ready to fight in Dundee,” he said. “I’ve been ready since I turned pro.”