Mike Tyson is siding with Ryan Garcia, and he is not writing Conor Benn off.
Garcia makes the first defense of his WBC welterweight title against Benn on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Tyson gave his read to FightHype and kept it short.
Ryan wins. We’ll see if it ends by knockout. Conor’s getting better.
Both men have a complicated recent history. Garcia won the belt in February with a unanimous decision over Mario Barrios, having lost his first fight at 147lbs to Rolando Romero in May 2025. Before that, he beat Devin Haney, only for the result to be changed to a no contest after he failed a drug test.
Benn’s 2022 fight with Chris Eubank Jr was called off over a failed test of his own. The National Anti-Doping Panel dismissed the charge in November 2024, neither UK Anti-Doping nor the British Boxing Board of Control appealed, and he was relicensed. The Eubank fights eventually happened last year at middleweight, with Benn losing the first and winning the rematch clearly. He then outpointed Regis Prograis at a 150lb catchweight in April.
The weight is the question. This is Benn’s first fight at welterweight since stopping Chris van Heerden in April 2022, and he has already said it will be his last at 147lbs before he moves back up regardless of the result.
