Grant Dennis ready to go against Andrey Sirotkin
‘Go-Getter’ Grant Dennis (15-2, 3KOs) takes on No.1 Russian middleweight Andrey Sirotkin (18-1, 6KOs) in Minsk, Belarus on Tuesday, October 6.
The middleweights do battle over 10 rounds on promoter Al Siesta’s Kold Wars II event.
35-year-old Sirotkin is already well known to British fight fans after he challenged John Ryder (28-5, 16KOs) for his WBA Inter-Continental super-middleweight title in October 2018 at the Copper Box Arena, live on Sky Sports. Islington’s Ryder stopped Sirotkin in the seventh round of their scheduled 12-round championship contest.
Now, in his 20th professional bout, he meets former Southern Area titleholder Grant Dennis, who is coming over from England with one intention – to cause an upset.
The 36-year-old from Chatham said of the fight in an interview with iFL TV, “It’s totally a blessing to be given this opportunity against such a highly ranked guy, who I think I’ve got the beating of.”
The once-beaten Russian has reeled off three wins on the spin, all between July 2019 to July 2020, and claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental middleweight title in the process.
The 35-year-old southpaw has notable wins over faded former two-weight world champion Ricardo Mayorga (32-12-1, 26KOs) to win the vacant WBA Inter-Continental super-middleweight title, which he defended successfully against Canadian Ryan Ford (17-6, 12KOs).
“I can’t wait to get my teeth stuck into the fight now,” enthused Dennis. “It’s been a long camp, we trained hard and we’re ready to go!”
This will be promoter Al Siesta’s fifth event this year, all staged in Minsk, Belarus, since lockdown restrictions began to lift towards the end of July.
Grant continued to say, “It was put to us just before end of May / June time for the first Kold Wars event [held on July 23], but I got a little injury so I had to pull out, then the opportunity was given to us again and we was like ‘Yeah, definitely man!’ We saw it was a great opportunity, and I definitely feel – like I do for every fight – that I’ve got the beating of him.”
The English title contender revealed he has been sparring with the reigning English middleweight champion Linus Udofia in preparation for Sirotkin, “I feel very strong, I got some good rounds in with Linus over the course of the last month. Obviously, it was an opportunity for two middleweights both prepping for a big fight. I got some rounds in with John [Harding Jr] as well.”
Udofia defeated Harding Jr in the ninth round just last weekend to retain his English belt.
Grant carried on, “The preparation has been there, the sparring has been there, so I’m ready to go and getting ready to fly out on Sunday.”
Within his first seven pro fights, Dennis won two Challenge belts – British and International – in two eight-rounders, followed by the Southern Area middleweight title, all within the same year between November 2015 to November 2016.
Then a controversial points defeat to unbeaten Elliot Matthews (21-0-1, 9KOs) from the away corner at York Hall meant Dennis missed out on English middleweight title, but his biggest platform came on BT Sport when he reached the Ultimate Boxxer finals in 2019 by beating two unbeaten middleweights – Sean Phillips (5-0-1) and Joe Hurn (10-0-1) – and narrowly tasted defeat to overall winner Derrick Osaze (10-0, 2KOs) in the tournament climax.
Since then he has registered a standard four-round points win over Jordan Grannum (5-72-2) in February this year on a Boxing Connected event in Maidstone whilst awaiting big fight news.
So now, Dennis plans to make the most of every opportunity handed to him, and explained what he believes a victory in Belarus could do for his career, “It’s going to propel me and get me onto the level I know I should be and amongst the fights that I think I deserve now. I’ve been a pro for five to six years so I’m ready for big fights.
“You’ve got to take these chances, the man who takes no risks achieves nothing in life. So, I’m just going to go for it with both hands! Every fight is a world title for me, I just can’t wait!”
The fight abroad will be behind closed doors with no friends or family in support, but Dennis is fully prepared for the unusual conditions, he maintains, “As soon as I get into the ring, that’s my home. If I’m fighting on the moon, that’s my home. So, it doesn’t matter where it is. Once you start throwing leather, it’s all comfortable.”
Trained Veron Quammie and managed by Joe Elfidh, Dennis was an ABA semi-finalist in 2002, who fought against heavyweight David Price as an amateur. As a pro, the middleweight has won British and International Challenge belts, a Southern Area title, reached the Ultimate Boxxer finals and challenged for the English championship. As a youngster, he also played semi-pro for his local football club, Maidstone United.
Grant is joined by fellow Briton Asinia Byfield (14-3, 6KOs) who takes on Aleksei Evchenko (19-13-1, 8KOs).
Follow Boxing Connected on Facebook @BoxingConnected
HÖRFA are proud sponsors of British Boxing News