Conor Benn Done at Welterweight After Ryan Garcia Stoppage Loss
Trainer Tony Sims confirms Conor Benn will never fight at 147 again after Garcia's second-round stoppage, with 154 or 160 next.
Conor Benn will never fight at welterweight again. That is the word from trainer Tony Sims after Benn's WBC welterweight title challenge ended in a second-round stoppage loss to Ryan Garcia.
"There's no excuses," Sims told Boxing News 24. "He just got caught with a shot. In world boxing, that's what happens."
Garcia dropped Benn heavily in the second round and the fight was waved off shortly after. Sims believes the stoppage came early, but the result stands, and so does the decision to leave 147 pounds behind for good. The weight cut had become brutal. Benn was draining himself to make welterweight for years, and the loss confirmed what his team already suspected: it was no longer worth it.
Sims indicated Benn will campaign at 154 or 160 pounds going forward. The move opens fresh matchups but also puts him in front of naturally bigger men who carry more power.
The obvious fight at a higher weight is a third meeting with Chris Eubank Jr. The two split a pair of bouts last year and a rubber match at a catchweight or super middleweight would be the biggest domestic fight available to either man. British fans would turn out in force.
But the Garcia loss exposed something weight classes cannot fix. Benn was caught clean by a shot he did not see coming, per Boxing News 24, and bigger opponents at 154 or 160 will hit even harder. Defensive awareness, not poundage, is the issue that needs addressing before the step up.
The welterweight chapter is closed. Benn leaves the division with a highlight reel and one costly lesson: at the world level, one clean shot changes everything.
I have been saying for a while that Benn was killing himself to make 147 and it was going to cost him. It finally did. Garcia is a real welterweight. Benn is not. A guy who is struggling on the scale is never going to have his chin right when the big punch comes.
Moving up makes sense, but let's not pretend it solves the problem. Garcia caught Benn clean because Benn's head was right there to be hit. At 154 or 160, the guys hitting you are stronger, not weaker. The Eubank Jr trilogy is the obvious play. It is a massive fight in the UK and neither man needs to drain himself to make it happen. But if Benn walks into the same shot from someone like Fundora or Andrade, the weight move will not matter.
Fix the defense first. Then go hunt a title at a real weight.
