Conor Benn didn’t need a September fight date to get his hands on Ryan Garcia. He was ready to go right there at the press conference.
The long-simmering feud between the two finally has a finish line: Garcia defends his WBC welterweight title against Benn on September 12 in Las Vegas. Their first faceoff turned physical immediately, with the pair having to be pulled apart, and Benn made clear he wasn’t just playing to the cameras.
I wanted to punch his head in, for sure. I would have had it there and then with him,” Benn said.
Benn, the mandatory challenger at 147 pounds, thinks the timing exposes Garcia’s intentions. He argues the American only came calling after beating Regis Prograis, having sidestepped him for years.
It just goes to show who he is at heart. He ain’t taking this fight for legacy. He ain’t taking this fight for anything other than trying to pick an easy fight.
There’s history behind the venom. Both men have served their own doping suspensions, and Benn spent 2025 tied up in his bitter rivalry with Chris Eubank Jr., going 1-1 across two middleweight bouts before dropping back to welterweight. Garcia, 25-2 (20 KOs), captured the WBC belt earlier this year by dominating Mario Barrios. Benn, 25-1 (14 KOs), will be chasing his first world title, and he hasn’t fought at 147 pounds since April 2022.
