Last month, Conor Benn fell short in his quest to claim the WBC welterweight world title, halted inside two rounds by reigning champion Ryan Garcia.
Garcia floored the Brit with a thudding right hand in the second round before piling on pressure to draw the stoppage from referee Thomas Taylor, securing a first career world title defence.
Since then, Benn’s ability has been the subject of much analysis, with many fans, pundits and fighters suggesting that he was competing one or two levels above where he belongs and that he should instead pursue the British title rather than world honours.
Summarising his performance to Seconds Out, Benn brushed off any suggestions that he was overmatched and instead insinuated that he would like to quickly move on from that display and ‘bounce back’.
“If you go swimming, you get wet, you pay the price. No problem, you bounce back. It’s life, it happens.”
Then, when quizzed on the reason behind the quick finished, Benn admitted his struggles making the 147lb weight limit after twice fighting up at middleweight (160lbs) the year prior.
“I can’t fight at the weight, I can’t make the weight.”
Benn has confirmed that he will be moving up to either middleweight or super-middleweight for future fights, fueling talk of a possible 2027 rubber match with fierce foe Chris Eubank Jr. at 168lbs.
Keith Connolly, manager to the Brit, has laid out a tentative plan of one fight at middleweight to get back to winning ways before revisiting the Eubank rivalry.
Either way, Benn is expected to first take time out following a high-profile two years that included four big fights.
