Teddy Atlas is going against the grain for Saturday’s WBC welterweight title fight, taking Conor Benn as a +250 underdog against Ryan Garcia at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
On THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas, the veteran trainer conceded Garcia holds the technical edges, but said the price on the challenger is too good to pass up.
Give it to me. I’ll take the +250 because at that price it’s worth something. I see all the edges that Garcia has, and if he stays in that good mental place and fights the fight he’s capable of on the outside, it’s going to be hard. But if Benn is right physically and if he can get inside, he can use his physicality and he can rough [Garcia] up.
That puts Atlas on the opposite side of most of the big-name picks ahead of the fight. Shakur Stevenson, Mike Tyson and Paulie Malignaggi have all sided with Garcia.
The Weight Question Hanging Over Benn
Benn hasn’t fought at welterweight since April 2022. Both of his 2025 fights with Chris Eubank Jr. came at middleweight, and his April decision win over Regis Prograis was contested at a 150-pound catchweight.
Atlas called the return to 147 pounds one of the biggest hurdles Benn faces, and he didn’t love what he saw.
When guys move up in weight, the concerns about taking that weight off and that added muscle, it’s not easy to do. That’s exactly one of the biggest challenges of what he’s going to have to do with this fight… He looks gaunt. It looks like it’s going to be tough on him.
He pointed to Roy Jones Jr. as a warning, noting Jones “might never have been the same” after beating John Ruiz for a heavyweight belt and then dropping back down. Atlas also doesn’t expect Benn to reach the level he hit across the two Eubank fights, which he described as “once-in-a-lifetime fights.”
Getting Through The Bad Neighborhood
For the upset to land, Atlas said Benn has to close the distance without eating Garcia’s counters on the way in.
He’s going to have to go through a bad neighborhood and not get mugged, as I like to say, as he’s getting close. He’s not going to win on the outside. He’s got to be able to get through a bad neighborhood without getting countered by the left hook or the right hand and hurt.
Once he’s there, Atlas wants Benn to keep his hands free and avoid being smothered, warning that “Garcia will tie him up.” If Benn can rough Garcia up inside, Atlas believes he can either hurt the champion or chip away at his confidence.
Atlas isn’t sold on Garcia’s February unanimous decision over Mario Barrios as proof of a new level, calling it a one-sided win over “a shot Barrios.” He also tied Garcia’s decision loss to Rolly Romero to the mental fallout from the positive drug test that erased his win over Devin Haney, saying Garcia “fought tentative, like a guy that wasn’t as sure of himself as he should have been.”
Atlas was clear about what his pick rests on.
I’m gambling on that he will have done it right and he will have that physicality edge. If he don’t, he’s not going to win.
