On Saturday, Conor Benn was halted by Ryan Garcia with ease, stopped inside two rounds of his maiden world title bid, and now a two-division world champion has labelled Benn as ‘terrible’ at world level and says that he didn’t belong in the same ring as Garcia.
Garcia and Benn had all of the necessary build-up of a super-fight, but those anticipating a gruelling slugfest or technical chess match were left short-changed as Garcia closed the show in less than five minutes of action to retain his WBC welterweight title.
As a result, many fighters and critics have shared their disappointment at Benn’s display, believing that the challenger was massively overmatched and undeserving of a shot at Garcia’s throne.
Speaking to Pro Box TV, former welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi branded Benn as a ‘terrible boxer’ in comparison to other world-level combatants.
“Conor Benn is, by the standards of world-class boxing, terrible. Terrible boxer.”
Malignaggi then went on to say that Benn should have pursued the belt when Mario Barrios was the WBC welterweight champion, rather that his fights with Chris Eubank Jr, believing that to have been the best chance that ‘The Destroyer’ will ever get to capture world honours.
“I’m not sure he could have [beaten Mario Barrios]. I think maybe on hunger and determination, Conor is a hungry kid, I will give him that. He is a determined kid and Barrios is a bit gun-shy, a bit high-guard and doesn’t throw enough punches at times.
“There was an opportunity there possibly, because Barrios sucked as a world champion as well, to tell you the truth. There was an opportunity [for Benn] to out-hustle Barrios and possibly sneak in a world championship. It would definitely have been his best chance ever.”
“Last night was a shot against a world champion of his generation, it looked like they were doing two different sports. It looked like he didn’t belong in the ring.”
Benn is set to move up to either middleweight or super-middleweight following the first stoppage defeat of his career, with a potential trilogy with Eubank Jr. now on the horizon.
