‘Conor Benn is a breath of fresh air for British boxing’

Conor Benn

CONOR BENN is rapidly establishing himself as a new attraction in British boxing. He stopped Samuel Vargas with unexpected speed on Saturday, an impressive finish, and he should remain active, with July being eyed for his next outing.

โ€œThatโ€™s the idea, to box him again in July. I want to keep him busy now,โ€ Tony Sims, his trainer, told Boxing News. โ€œI want to get another fight in July and maybe another fight at the end of December and just keep him nice and busy now.

โ€œThey more they fight, the better their experience.โ€

Conor, the son of British boxing legend Nigel Benn, will headline once again. โ€œThe numbers are so big that heโ€™s doing. Behind the heavyweights, behind [Anthony] Joshua and Dillian Whyte, heโ€™s doing the next big numbers on Sky. Heโ€™ll always headline his own shows now,โ€ Sims said. โ€œAt the end of the day, when he talks people listen and his style is exciting. Weโ€™ve seen him going on the floor as a novice. Heโ€™s got a little bit of vulnerability that his dad had but heโ€™s also got power in both hands that his dad carried. People want to watch that.โ€

โ€œHeโ€™s exciting and heโ€™s a breath of fresh air for British boxing,โ€ Tony continued. โ€œHeโ€™s real when he talks, he shows raw emotion sometimes and people tune in to watch that. Thatโ€™s what fightingโ€™s about. It is raw. Fighting is raw and they want to see real people.โ€

conor benn
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

However in terms of his opposition, Sims is not looking to fast-track him. โ€œI need him to gain experience. I got him a boxer who boxes off the backfoot last time, this time I got him a rugged fighter who comes forward, obviously it finished early,โ€ Tony said. โ€œI thought weโ€™d be in for a tough fight and I envisioned obviously Conor beating [Vargas] and I envisioned him maybe stopping him later on in the fight.

โ€œHe takes a bit of stopping normally. He takes a shot. Heโ€™s durable. He can bang a little bit, he showed against [Amir] Khan. I was envisioning quite a difficult fight early on and then Conor comes on to stop him. But he caught Vargas early and he finished the job there and then. It was a great finish as well.

โ€œBut Iโ€™m trying to put him in with different styles of fighting. [So] when he does reach them heights and is boxing the big names, heโ€™s been in with mostly every style and he can cope whatever style comes at him.โ€

But another of Simsโ€™ boxers will be challenging for a British title next. Commonwealth champion Felix Cash boxes Denzel Bentley for the British middleweight title on April 24 on BT Sport. Cash chose to go for this fight rather than take a shot at the European title. โ€œI left the option up to him but he did have two options,โ€ Sims said. โ€œHe wanted to fight for the British title. Itโ€™s a big thing for him, winning the Lonsdale belt.โ€

โ€œIt should be a good fight. Theyโ€™re both unbeaten so it should be a good fight but Iโ€™m expecting Felix to come through,โ€ he continued. โ€œItโ€™s a tough fight. Theyโ€™re both unbeaten young prospects. When you look at Felixโ€™s resume, heโ€™s boxed all round the world with GB. He was on GB for quite a long time and boxed all the top amateurs.

โ€œHeโ€™s got a lot of experience like that that Bentley hasnโ€™t really experienced.โ€

The gym is on a tremendous run of form. Stablemate Ted Cheeseman has just won the British super-welterweight crown in another war, this time against James Metcalf. Sims doesnโ€™t see Cheeseman fighting British rival Anthony Fowler next though. โ€œIf you look at the last six fights [Cheeseman]โ€™s been in, itโ€™s horrendous really. He just fought everyone in the domestic division apart from Fowler,โ€ Sims said. โ€œHeโ€™s fought Metcalf, [Scott] Fitzgerald, [Kieron] Conway, [Sergio] Garcia, [Asinia] Byfield, Carson Jones, one after the other.

โ€œFowler needs to fight someone on the resume that Tedโ€™s fought. The opponents that Fowlerโ€™s fought apart from Fitzgerald, who are they?

โ€œCheeseman-Fowler is a big fight, itโ€™s also another really difficult, hard fight. Itโ€™s also another war [so] Iโ€™ve got to be smart around Tedโ€™s career.โ€

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