{"id":30980,"date":"2025-06-12T19:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T19:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/nathan-heaney-stoke-fighter-says-comeback-fight-v-dennis-is-must-win\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T19:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T19:36:12","slug":"nathan-heaney-stoke-fighter-says-comeback-fight-v-dennis-is-must-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/nathan-heaney-stoke-fighter-says-comeback-fight-v-dennis-is-must-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Heaney: Stoke fighter says comeback fight v Dennis is ‘must win’"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Defeat by Khati was Heaney’s second of his career and came seventh months after he lost his British crown to Brad Pauls in a rematch in Birmingham following a split-draw <\/a>in their first meeting.<\/p>\n

Those back-to-back losses have cranked up the pressure – and the jeopardy – for his bout with former European title challenger Dennis.<\/p>\n

But Heaney is not phased by the enormity of the situation and remembers the build-up to his British title-winning fight with Denzel Bentley<\/a> in November 2023.<\/p>\n

“When I boxed Denzel there was a lot of pressure on me,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The anxiety was ridiculous but you only had to look at my performance on the night so see how that can affect you positively.<\/p>\n

“Career-wise, it is the most important one by far. I have to win but it’s a very hard and unforgiving sport and you can’t take anything for granted.”<\/p>\n

Heaney still holds the burning ambition to fight at the home of his beloved Stoke City – the bet365 Stadium – and knows that will only happen if he wins.<\/p>\n

“Five years ago when I last fought at the King’s Hall when it was sold out, the videos went viral and that’s what got me signed by Frank Warren,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a reminder of what the city is and the demand for it is. We need a bigger place and we’ve got one – the football stadium – so I need to get back on track to make sure that can happen.<\/p>\n

“My dream is to end [my career] at Stoke City but if that didn’t happen, 26 July could be the last time I fight in Stoke.<\/p>\n

“If I was to lose then it will probably be the last time I ever fight. I’ve never imagined retiring on a loss but sometimes you have no choice.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defeat by Khati was Heaney’s second of his career and came seventh months after he lost his British crown to Brad Pauls in a rematch in Birmingham following a split-draw in their first meeting. Those back-to-back losses have cranked up the pressure – and the jeopardy – for his bout with former European title challenger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30982,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30980\/revisions\/30982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}