Fresh from a victory on his Zuffa Boxing debut, Conor Benn is in hot pursuit of a welterweight world title, and former promoter Eddie Hearn has now revealed further details regarding Benn’s proposed second outing of 2026.
Benn left Hearn and Matchroom Boxing to sign with Dana White’s new promotional company earlier this year and marked his first fight with them in a decision victory against Regis Prograis at the beginning of the month – a 150lb catchweight affair.
That triumph over Prograis was Benn’s first contest below 154lbs since April 2022, but ‘The Destroyer’ remains rated as the number one contender and mandatory challenger in the WBC’s welterweight (147lb) rankings.
As a result, a clash against reigning WBC champion Garcia has seemed inevitable and both men publicly agreed to the fight shortly after the Brit’s latest win, with an August fight date being rumoured.
However, in an interview with FightHype, Hearn revealed that he expects that event to replace the up-in-the-air rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Netflix’s September schedule.
“Netflix are only going to do so many fights and the word is that they are doing Benn-Garcia now on September 12th or whenever that is going to be. That is obviously the fight that is replacing Mayweather-Pacquiao.
“If Mayweather-Pacquiao happens, they are committed to that fight. If it doesn’t happen, they are going to want another fight to slot in there and by the sounds of it, it’s Garcia against Benn.”
Netflix had previously announced that ‘TBE’ and Pacquiao would face one another in a professional contest, 11 years after their initial encounter, on Saturday, September 19, but Mayweather has cast major doubt on the fight.
As a result, it is unclear whether the event will go ahead, potentially opening the door for Garcia-Benn to take its place.
