With a victory over Chris Eubank Jr now on his record, Conor Benn is turning his attention to a first world title opportunity.
His one-sided November win served as both revenge and redemption for the Benn family following their decades-long rivalry with Eubank Jr and his father, Chris Sr. Benn’s spell at middleweight now appears over, with the 29-year-old set to return to the welterweight division — a weight he has not competed at since his demolition of Chris Van Heerden in April 2022.
Despite competing at 160lbs throughout 2025, Benn has been installed as the WBC welterweight mandatory challenger. The title is currently held by Mario Barrios, who is strongly rumoured to be defending his belt against Ryan Garcia in February.
Benn will target the winner and his promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed to The Ring that Garcia is the preferred opponent should he come through the bout with Barrios, with the ideal timeline being Cinco De Mayo weekend in May.
“Ultimately, that’s what we want. Conor’s mandatory for the winner of that fight, so we know we’re going to get it. It’s just a case of whether that date works for everybody. His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] had a very vague conversation with us. He loves the idea of that fight.”
Benn’s heated rivalry with Eubank Jr drew more than 100,000 fans across their two clashes in April and November, and Hearn is confident that British supporters will again travel stateside for Benn’s first world title fight.
“We know we take thousands and thousands of Brits to Las Vegas and hopefully Ryan can come through and we can make that fight. I think it’s a mega fight. I think it’s two guys with massive profile, two guys that are very exciting to watch. So let’s see what happens between Ryan and Barrios and Conor is waiting, ready to go.”
Garcia has since used his social media channels to reveal that he has signed a contract to fight Barrios, although no official announcement has yet been made.
