The 34-year-old contender’s Wembley Stadium clash with Hamzah Sheeraz had ended in a devastating second-round knockout. Suddenly, one of Boxxer’s Midlands stars was out in the cold.

Denny’s defeat to Sheeraz, on the undercard of Daniel Dubois’ victory over Anthony Joshua, came in September 2024. He returned seven months later on the Boxxer bill headlined by Ben Whittaker’s victory against Liam Cameron in their rematch.

But it was not long before Boxxer’s deal with Sky Sports ended and Denny, along with a number of other big names in British boxing, had nowhere to turn. It got worse for the southpaw once Boxxer announced a deal with the BBC in August last year because he was not involved in the new venture.

It was then that manager Errol Johnson decided to take matters into his own hands, arranging for Denny to fight at Dudley Town Hall for the first time since way back in 2016, just to keep the ball rolling. He responded by beating Grant Dennis on points over eight rounds.

“A lot of people have followed me up to Manchester and London and everywhere else over the years,” Denny told The Ring. “So, it was nice to have something a little more local again. We did it just to keep me active because I was hearing nothing back from promoters about anything else. If I hadn’t done it, I would have gone nearly a year without fighting.

“But I had to stay switched on because I don’t want to end up losing to a guy like Dennis because I’ve taken in the occasion a bit too much. It was a good experience, but I don’t want to do it again. It was really just a reminder that I need to win this fight, because if I don’t I’ll be back there again and I don’t want to be doing that. It was nice as a one-off, but I feel like fights like Saturday is where I belong.”

A month or so after his victory, Denny (21-3-3, 1 KO) was offered the chance to get his career back on track as the opponent in a voluntary defense for British and Commonwealth middleweight champion George Liddard (13-0, 8 KOs). The pair will meet in the main event Saturday night at London’s Copper Box Arena, live on DAZN (7 p.m. GMT).

“I’m absolutely buzzing for it,” Denny said. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity because you do question if it’s ever going to happen. I had heard that Liddard was going to be fighting Liam Smith, so I wasn’t really expecting it. But then we heard about it in mid-January. I’m just over the moon with it.”

The fight represents Denny’s first return to the capital since that defeat to Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs), who dropped him twice en route to the finish at 2:05 of the second.

It was the third defeat of his career, but by far the most high-profile. He never had a chance to get going against Sheeraz, who claimed his European title, while the fall-out taught him a lesson about the harsh realities of boxing.

“It just puts it into perspective that you’re just a number really,” Denny said. “When you’re winning your promoter pushes you on towards this and towards that. But then when you lose and you ask, ‘When am I fighting next?,’ you just get no response. You’ve got to have something to offer haven’t you? And that's why I’m so glad for this opportunity, really. All I can ask for is opportunities and then it's up to me to take them. But it’s a different story when you can’t get an opportunity and you’re crying out loud and begging for one – that’s the frustrating part of boxing that a lot of people don’t see.”

Instead, Denny knows that victory over Liddard will not only secure the British and Commonwealth titles, but also more meaningful fights after such lean times.

“My next steps rely on what happens in this fight,” he added. “Matchroom have been in the game a long time, they’re not silly. If I win, they have options.

“I might not have got this fight if I wasn’t a free agent, so that has been one blessing in disguise here. Matchroom have got a win-win really because the belts stay with them when I win.”