Tony Bellew has shared his view after Conor Benn came up short in his world title bid against Ryan Garcia on Saturday.
Benn returned to 147lbs for the first time in over four years as he challenged Garcia for his WBC welterweight title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Garcia was seen as the favourite ahead of the contest, and that view was evident early on as ‘King Ry’ knocked down his rival with a big right hand in the second round of the bout.
Benn managed to get back to his feet, but a further flurry from Garcia on the ropes forced the referee to jump in and stop the contest, as ‘The Destroyer’ suffered the second defeat of his professional career.
One man that had talked up Benn’s chances ahead of the bout was former WBC cruiserweight champion Bellew, but speaking on the DAZN broadcast after the bout, he admitted that the levels were evident.
“You cannot jump up through the levels, you’ve got to go through the bit by bit. He’s just jumped too many levels too quickly in my opinion tonight. He took a coupe of clean left hooks and kept going forward, but when you get hit on the button like that, I mean it was a heavy right hand.”
Bellew then revealed what he would like to see Benn do next.
“It’s really hard that because at 168 could you imagine trying to put Conor Benn against Hamzah Sheeraz, it’s just not viable, it’s just not realistic. Super middleweights are big monsters and they come down to make weight.
“If 147 is not for you then do 154 tops, tops. It’s madness [for him to fight at 160 or 168]. What 160 fighter can he beat? If I’m Conor Benn I’m heading towards the Eubank Jr trilogy. If I’m being honest that’s the one that makes the most sense.”
As for Garcia’s future, he could now be set for a unification battle with WBA welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez.
