Shakur Stevenson has weighed in with his final call ahead of Saturday’s Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn clash, and his money is on Garcia, even though he made clear the pick isn’t a knock on Benn as a person.
Speaking with FightHype, Stevenson, who beat Garcia as an amateur back in 2013, said he genuinely likes Benn as a person and has always found him easy to get along with whenever they’ve crossed paths.
I like Ryan Garcia [to win the fight]. You know what is crazy? I really like Conor Benn as a person, though. He is really a cool dude, if you really talk with him. I done been around Conor Benn on several different occasions and every time that I have been around him he has always been a real cool motherf***a.
Even so, Stevenson doesn’t think Benn has the experience to get past Garcia. He also referenced a comment from former two-division champion Fernando Vargas, who raised the question of which fighter is more likely to quit under pressure.
I just don’t think that he has got the experience to beat Ryan, I think that is what is going to come out. But, I seen something with Fernando Vargas where he said, ‘which one of them guys quit?’, and I said ‘damn’.
“I never really thought about that but that is like a fighters mentality and Ryan did kind of quit in one of his fights and Conor Benn has never quit. It is an interesting thing and maybe Conor Benn may shock the world and beat Ryan Garcia but me, knowing Ryan, Ryan should beat him.
Benn hasn’t fought at welterweight in over four years, having spent both of his 2025 bouts against Chris Eubank Jr. at middleweight, yet he was controversially named mandatory challenger for Garcia’s WBC title.
Garcia, meanwhile, is coming off a win over Mario Barrios that finally earned him his first world title and is looking to defend it before potential unification fights against Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney down the line.
Garcia and Benn meet this Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
