Conor Benn’s world title ambitions were stomped out by Ryan Garcia at the weekend as the Brit fell short in Las Vegas, but despite the defeat, he has been offered a route straight back to the top..
Prior to his challenge for Garcia’s WBC welterweight world title, Benn made it clear that the contest would be his last in the 147lbs division after what he described as a ‘brutal’ weight cut following four years of competing heavier.
The 29-year-old’s final welterweight outing lasted less than five minutes, as Garcia needed only two rounds to hand the challenger his first career stoppage loss. As promised, he is expected to prompt a move up when he returns, having said he would even skip super-welterweight to move straight to either 160 or 168lbs.
Now, reigning WBO middleweight world champion Denzel Bentley has told Sky Sports that he would welcome Benn ‘jumping the queue’ to challenge for his title.
“Although the public might not think he deserves another world title shot in my eyes I feel like his profile is big enough for him to skip the queue,”
“It’s unfair but that’s the sport we’re in. Obviously it’s beneficial for me, especially financially, so 100 per cent that’s the fight I would take. I’ve never had any beef with Conor, we’ve always been cool.
“But if he is coming to the 160lb division, he goes from a companion to a potential challenger.”
Whether or not the sanctioning body would approve such a jump is another story.
Bentley also went on to recognise that Benn may need some time away from the sport to recover both physically and mentally from his one-sided defeat to Garcia.
“Firstly he needs to get himself right, well and fit. I think he should take a lot of time off and recover. I don’t think there’s any rush for him to get back into a boxing ring or even a gym. That weight cut was a fight in itself for him I think. Probably took a lot out of himself.”
“I think he will be a lot better with the extra weight. I think at 160lbs he’ll be a lot more fuelled. But, listen, I punch as well and there were a lot of flaws in his game that night that I could exploit.”
Bentley may be ordered to fulfil his mandatory and take on Cuban bogeyman Yoenli Hernandez before he can make a voluntary defence of his title. Should Bentley be the first to defeat ‘YoYo’, it could set up an intriguing all-British world title clash between with Benn for 2027.
