Conor Benn is hoping to score a first knockout win since his last welterweight appearance in April 2022 as he returns to the division in a bid for Ryan Garcia’s WBC world title.
Benn’s most recent stoppage win came against Chris van Heerden almost 53 months ago, with ‘The Destroyer’ going the distance in all five of the contests that have followed – each of which were fought above the 147lb welterweight limit.
This weekend, the Essex-born contender will seek to end that KO drought in an ambitious attempt to dethrone Ryan Garcia upon his return to the division, in a bout that he has already admitted will be his last at welterweight following a difficult weight cut.
In an interview with The Sun Sport, WBO middleweight world champion Denzel Bentley recalled his spars with Benn before his two fights with Chris Eubank Jr. and admitted that, whilst his countryman has sufficient power, he is concerned as to whether Benn will retain it down at 147lbs.
“He punches hard enough. I’m not going to lie, he punches hard enough. It wasn’t anything like, ‘Oh my days!’, but he puts a lot into it and anyone that is putting a lot into their shots and it isn’t hard enough is in trouble.
“That was when he wasn’t even weighing 160lbs, he was heavier, fresher, a lot more going in, training hard, putting in the work and full of fuel. When he gets to 147lbs, that could go.
“It is a lot of weight, man, because he was coming down to 160lbs at the time and now he is coming down from whatever he was at 160lbs, he is coming down from that to 147lbs and he hasn’t been there for four years!
“I wouldn’t have bothered to come back down to 147lbs. I would have stayed at 154lbs and try get some fights there.”
Garcia-Benn takes place on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as Garcia – who himself hasn’t registered a stoppage win since 2023 – seeks to make his first defence of the coveted WBC crown and tee up a unification showdown with WBA champion Teofimo Lopez.
