Having previously shared rounds of sparring with Conor Benn, former world champion Shawn Porter has considered whether ‘The Destroyer’ can perform to a high standard at 147lbs against Ryan Garcia.
The 29-year-old has not competed at welterweight since 2022, before two positive doping tests led to the cancellation of his encounter with Chris Eubank Jr.
His middleweight rivalry with Eubank was then revisited last year, when Benn suffered a unanimous decision defeat before winning their rematch by the same verdict.
Now coming off another wide points victory, this time against a faded Regis Prograis last April, the Brit is attempting to make championship weight for his clash with Ryan Garcia.
The 28-year-old American will make a first defence of his world title at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on September 12, having claimed the belt by dethroning Mario Barrios with a unanimous decision victory in February.
This happened to be his second outing at 147lbs, with the first resulting in a unanimous decision defeat to Rolando Romero in May 2025.
Benn, on the other hand, has fought as high as 160lbs since his last welterweight outing, with Porter – who sparred Benn ahead of the first Eubank fight – telling About Boxing that he feels the world title challenger will encounter a formidable challenge before he even steps through the ropes.
“I think the weight cut’s gonna affect him. He hasn’t been at 147lbs in [four years]. The manipulation it takes to continue to pull that weight down – once you stop that manipulation, and try to reinforce it, it doesn’t always spark the same [result].
“Obviously, we saw Claressa [Shields] get the weight off – she came back [to 160lbs]; she looked great [against Kaye Scott]. [But], for Conor Benn, I think he has to have extraordinary discipline with bringing his weight back down to 147lbs.”
Benn has made it clear that this will be his last welterweight assignment, indicating that he is already experiencing a torrid battle with the scales and saying that he could end up competing as high as 168lbs.
