Former two-time world champion Regis Prograis has assessed the chances that his last opponent Conor Benn has at dethroning WBC belt-holder Ryan Garcia this weekend.
The pair will square off at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, with Garcia making a first defence of his world welterweight title.
He claimed his WBC strap by dethroning Mario Barrios with a unanimous decision victory in February, which followed his points defeat to Rolando Romero in May 2025.
But while Garcia received ample criticism for his performance against Romero, it did arrive after his year-long doping ban and may have therefore been a result of inactivity.
In any event, the 28-year-old has been made a sizable favourite against Benn, whose last welterweight outing came in April 2022.
‘The Destroyer’ then tested positive for clomifene later that year, while his latest assignment resulted in a 10-round unanimous decision victory over Prograis in April.
It was hardly the performance that most had anticipated, however, as Prograis – a shadow of his former self – managed to make Benn look one-dimensional and clumsy through large spells of their 150lb catchweight contest.
Now offering his prediction to The Spit Bucket Podcast, Prograis has highlighted Benn’s drop to 147lbs as a major disadvantage against Garcia.
“I think Ryan is better. And then the weight looks bad – Conor looks bad. Why couldn’t I have fought Conor Benn at 147[lbs]? That weight is killing him.
“I feel like Ryan is going to stop him. I thought [Benn] was going to be way stronger [in April]. I created this big monster in my head, but it really wasn’t there.”
Prograis admitted it was the pre-doping scandal Benn that seemed like a “monster”, only for him to appear far more human when they collided earlier this year.
