Carl Frampton sums up Conor Benn’s performance against Ryan Garcia in KO loss

Oscar Pick

Carl Frampton sums up Conor Benn’s performance against Ryan Garcia in KO loss
Image credit: Getty

While applauding the performance of Ryan Garcia, Carl Frampton is not convinced that Conor Benn deserved to challenge the WBC world champion over the weekend.

Making a first defence of his welterweight title at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, Garcia was coming off a wide unanimous decision victory over Mario Barrios in February.

The American had therefore proven that he was at least capable of competing at world level whereas Benn, on the other hand, had done nothing of the sort.

Instead, the Brit’s most significant wins have all come against faded fighters such as Regis Prograis and Chris Algieri, while his triumph over Chris Eubank Jr arrived up at 160lbs.

This was also a weight-drained version of Eubank who, even after contending with a rehydration limit, had managed to win their first encounter by unanimous decision.

Benn then won their rematch by the same verdict but, even so, it remained difficult to pinpoint exactly which level he was capable of reaching.

Following his second-round stoppage defeat to Garcia, meanwhile, it can now be said with some certainty that the 29-year-old does not belong at world level.

Speaking on the DAZN broadcast afterwards, former two-weight world champion Frampton suggested that Benn is even a few tiers below Garcia.

“There certainly [are] levels in this game … and Ryan Garcia’s a couple of levels above Benn.

“[Benn was] maybe exposed a little bit. [It was] very one-sided – over quickly as well. That left hook – and I’ve seen it on TV; I’ve seen it on YouTube … But it’s even more impressive and frightening in real life. Excellent performance from Ryan Garcia.”

With Benn having not competed at 147lbs in over four years, he was saying throughout the build-up that, for future fights, he would much rather campaign at middle or super-middleweight.

More stories