Online Reporter
CONOR BENN has been backed to walk into a mega-fight against Ryan Garcia – but must be prepared to pack his passport to do so.
Garcia challenges for Mario Barrios’ WBC welterweight world title on Saturday in Las Vegas – live on DAZN PPV.
And Benn will be ringside at the T-Mobile having been placed as the WBC’s No1 ranked challenger – primed to face the winner.
Benn is also in talks with WBA champion Rolly Romero while also facing off with pound-for-pound star Shakur Stevenson last month in New York.
And Garcia is still linked with a rematch against Devin Haney – after his 2024 win was overturned to a no-contest following a failed drug test.
Despite options for both Benn and Garcia – ex-WBO super-featherweight world champion Barry Jones expects the rivalling stars to clash NEXT.
He said on SunSport’s No Glove Lost episode: “It’s a big, massive fight, isn’t it? Financially, it’s the biggest fight for both of them.
“I mean, and why would he want to go in with Devin Haney again? They’re hard nights.
“He’ll see Benn as easy. I’m not saying he is, but he’ll see Benn as an easier option physically but financially more rewarding.
“From where Benn started, he’s done tremendously well to get where he is, and he believes in himself.
“I mean genuinely, I don’t think it’s like it’s bravado with him. I think he genuinely believes that he can beat anyone.”
Benn, 29, is coming off two middleweight mega-fights against born rival Chris Eubank Jr, 36, losing in April but winning the November rematch.
And despite not fighting at welterweight in over THREE YEARS – he has been handed the No1 ranked WBC spot.
Benn spent two years on the sidelines after failing a 2022 drug test for clomiphene – known to boost testosterone.
The son of a legend protested his innocence following a ban from UK Anti-Doping and the British Boxing Board of Control.
Benn took his career to America, winning two 150lb catchweight clashes before being cleared to fight Eubank in Britain when UKAD dropped his case.
Garcia, 27, suffered a similar doping scandal in 2024 after testing positive for muscle enhancer ostarine after fighting Haney, 27.
He did pass tests taken in the lead-up to the grudge match but failed in samples taken on the day of and before the Brooklyn bout.
Garcia accepted a one-year ban and returned last May in a WBA title shot against Rolly Romero, 30, which he lost on points after being dropped.
But such is his superstar popularity, the WBC have handed him an immediate second crack at welterweight glory.
Promoters hope Garcia will dethrone Barrios, 30, and proceed to a blockbuster against Benn, who has talked up a Wembley Stadium showdown.
But Jones – who joined Carl Froch and Josh Taylor on our star-studded panel – argues such an occasion is destined for boxing’s original Sin City home.
He said: “It’s a Vegas fight. I think even in this day, even though the landscape has changed, the site fee they offer for Garcia, I think it would be enough.”
Benn has been Stateside since January, having watched Stevenson, 27, dominate Teofimo Lopez, 28, to win the WBO 140lb title.
And the first thing four-division champ Stevenson did was call out Benn – who hopped into the Madison Square Garden ring for a face-off.
But Jones said: “Shakur Stevenson’s a super-lightweight, so I don’t know why there’s even talk of that fight.
“Though Shakur could move up I think and still be competitive against anybody – and I mean anybody at welterweight.
“But I think that fight’s not gonna happen. I do think he looks for the winner of this or he looks for Rolly Romero, which are fights where he can be competitive in and I genuinely mean that because he is innately tough.” – Sun
Mathew Masinge