Cornish boxer Brad Pauls said ‘the goals are the same, I want more history, more legacy for Cornwall’ after being beaten on points in the first defence of his British middleweight title against Denzel Bentley at Wembley Arena on Saturday night.

The bill-topping fight was shown live on TNT Sports and throughout the 12 rounds the chant of ‘Newquay Bomb’ by the Cornishman’s supporters was heard loud and proud. But it was always going to be a tough fight against a boxer who fought for a World title in Las Vegas in 2022.

Having lost his British title to Nathan Heaney in November 2023, Bentley was taking on Pauls to get that title back, after Pauls beat Heaney earlier this year to become the first Cornishman in 80-odd years to hold a British title. Also up for grabs was Bentley’s International title, and a vacant European title.

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It was exciting stuff and Pauls did Cornwall proud after a slow start and then taking control of the fight in the sixth round. After closing in on his opponent he caught Bentley with some powerful shots – and the TV scorecard had him winning three of the next four rounds. But a punch that put Pauls on his knees in the 10th round left the 31-year-old with a badly swollen eye and Bentley was back on top from then on.

In the end, he did well to get through the 12 rounds, and the bout was awarded to the 29-year-old South Londoner with scores of 117-110, 116-11 and 115-112.

Afterwards, Pauls stood in the ring and praised his vocal fans, telling them: “All for one and one for all, us Cornish stick together. This has never been done before and you lot are part of it. I am going to go on as long as I can, if you support me I am still here fighting. So the show goes on, minor speed bump, but we’re back.

“I know I can bounce back from this. My biggest wins came after my first loss. Denzel has lost and come back, so I’m going to do the same – dust myself off, come back in the new year, and get more wins for you Cornish guys.”

On Sunday morning, taking to social media, Pauls confirmed he had suffered a fractured eye socket. In a video on X, he said: “It wasn’t the result I wanted. I am absolutely gutted, but I did try my absolute best and massive respect to Denzel Bentley. He is a great fighter, definitely above British level.

“It was a long night in the hospital last night, I fractured my eye socket and I couldn’t see out of my eye afterwards during the fight from the 10th round onwards, and that sort of changed the tide a little bit.

“That’s boxing, that’s how it goes sometimes. I am going to take some time to rest and recover and let my eye heal up. Stay with me, keep the faith.”