CONOR BENN is open to fighting Amir Khan or Kell Brook next year. But first he must overcome experienced American Chris Algieri in Liverpool on Saturday (December 11).
Khan and Brook themselves will fight early in 2022. “It is frustrating they didn’t do this [box each other] five or six years ago. They’re both calling my name saying they want me after that fight so I will fight the winner. 1 million per cent,” Benn said. “Either of them. It makes no difference to me. They claim they’re the best in Britain. But I beg to differ.”
He could have been fighting Khan himself in this next fight but insists he’s not disappointed. “When one door closes another opens. I am a fighting man, this is what I do. I train every day to beat people up. Whatever is meant for me won’t pass me,” he said.
Benn, the son of British boxing legend Nigel, cannot afford to overlook Algieri. The American might be 37 years old but he should certainly be tricky for Conor. “What if he is at his prime? You look at when Manny Pacquiao fought Keith Thurman, everyone said he was past it. When Kiko Martinez fought Galahad, he was past it. When you want to start talking age then I am paying no attention. I know how good Algieri is, he’s a well-seasoned fighter, he lives the life, he may be in his prime now,” Benn said. “Whatever he does on the night I will figure it out, I will suss him out.”
When Conor set out trying to follow in his father’s footsteps he was the subject of heavy criticism. After a run of wins over Sebastien Formella, Samuel Vargas and Adrian Granados he is now receiving plenty of praise. “I don’t listen to either. I don’t listen to the praise because it doesn’t matter,” Benn said. “I don’t listen to people blowing smoke up my arse, because I don’t need it and I don’t listen to them when they say I’m terrible or I’m this or I’m that. It makes no difference what you think. It only matters what I think, what my trainer thinks and what my family thinks. If I had listened to people when I first turned pro, I wouldn’t be where I am now. They are not me. What’s impossible for them is very possible for me. It’s impossible for them because it is their mindset. It is why they have time to sit online and abuse someone trying. I don’t listen to nobody that I don’t need to listen.”
Benn is on the cusp of rising to the next level of international competition. How he fares with Algieri will dictate the future direction for his career. Whether it’s spectacular or close, winning will be all that matters in Liverpool.
