Paulie Malignaggi does not think Conor Benn belongs in the ring with Ryan Garcia.
Garcia makes the first defense of his WBC welterweight title against Benn on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The former two-weight world champion gave his read to Fight Hub TV and did not hedge on it.
I think [Garcia] knocks [Benn] out, only because Ryan’s strong. Conor’s a tough kid, but he’s not good. And I don’t see how he avoids eventually just getting knocked out. Ryan’s not the kind of guy that will assault you, but he will put hands on you and hit you with a sneaky shot you don’t see.
He then went after Benn’s power and brought the doping case into it.
Conor doesn’t have the skills to be in there, man. He doesn’t hit hard enough. He wants to hit hard enough, but, I’ll say it bro, after the whole steroids scandal, I know he was cleared and all that, but the guy [was] hitting hard before that, and he hasn’t hit hard after that. It’s kind of self-explanatory in some ways if you want to think about it and generate a pretty strong opinion.
I don’t think he’s strong enough or good enough. Ryan, streamer or not, he still had 200 amateur fights and he’s world class.
Benn twice tested positive for clomifene in 2022, which caused the cancellation of his first fight with Chris Eubank Jr. The National Anti-Doping Panel dismissed the charge in November 2024, saying it was not satisfied that UK Anti-Doping had proved a violation. Neither UKAD nor the British Boxing Board of Control appealed, and Benn was relicensed to box in Britain.
The weight is the more practical question. Benn has not made 147lbs since stopping Chris van Heerden in April 2022. He has since fought as high as middleweight in two bouts with Eubank Jr, and his last outing came at a 150lb catchweight against Regis Prograis in April. Benn has called the cut back down brutal and confirmed this is his final fight at welterweight.
Garcia won the belt in February with a wide unanimous decision over Mario Barrios, the first full world title of his career. He had lost his first fight at 147lbs to Rolando Romero. This is Benn’s first world title opportunity.
The card headlines a Zuffa Boxing show and streams on Paramount+ globally, with DAZN carrying it in the UK and Ireland.
