Conor Benn vs. Ryan Garcia | DAZN - 12 September 2026

[margaret thatcher]

garcia is erratic. someone who beats an elite boxer like devin haney should have no business being dominated by rolo romero. then his next fight after rolo, he looked sharp and clowns a guy who probably isnt much worse if at all than romero. a lot of talent garcia has, but clearly a head case with inconsistent form

on his best id take him to beat benn, but will he deliver that? id certainly give benn a chance

[keithmoonhangover]

Benn is getting his head panned in.

Don't you think Garcia's chinny?

[dookus]

Benn is getting his head panned in.

Don't you think Garcia's chinny?

I don't think Benn's got the skills to land on him properly without taking serious fire in return. Garcia's erratic but his general level of opposition is miles above Benn's.

[Frostieballs]

Benn is getting his head panned in.

Don't you think Garcia's chinny?

I don't think Benn's got the skills to land on him properly without taking serious fire in return. Garcia's erratic but his general level of opposition is miles above Benn's.

Exactly.

[PredatorHayds]

I can't see Benn making Welter.

[smiling assassin]

Benn is getting his head panned in.

Don't you think Garcia's chinny?

Maybe but Benn can’t crack an egg. Excuse the pun

[Taansend]

Remember when Garcia was supposed to weigh 140 against Haney but came in over 3 pounds heavy?

I can see Benn doing the same thing here.

[Eolaithe]

Conor Benn looked poor against Regis Prograis, but “form” is irrelevant when we’re discussing a fighter that cycles on and off PEDs.

Best Names on Conor Benn’s Record:

• Chris Eubank Jr (35) — naturally a 168lb fighter, but drained down to 159lbs. He was past his best, inconsistent, coming off a recent KO loss, and faded badly after being dropped twice late.
• Regis Prograis (37) — naturally a 140lb fighter, but made to fight at 149–150lbs. He had only one win in three years, had lost to Haney and Catterall, looked faded, and was well above his best weight.
• Chris Algieri (37) — a former 140lb fighter at 146lbs. He was inactive, long past his best, coming off earlier losses, and was more of a veteran than a top contender.
• Chris van Heerden (34) — past his best, worn down, and coming off a brutal KO loss to Jaron Ennis. He looked damaged and faded.

From memory, Benn failed two drug tests in 2022, in July and September. Since then, he has not knocked anyone out. By the Garcia fight, it will be four years since Benn’s last KO win.

By contrast, Ryan Garcia spent most of his career, from 2016 to 2023, fighting at 135lbs or below.

Garcia’s best “win” was against Devin Haney, but it hurt his career because he badly missed weight and he also failed a PED test.

Garcia is the better boxer with a superior resume, but Benn is physically bigger, reportedly rehydrating to around the 170lbs+ mark. Garcia could be out-gunned and out-worked by “The Destroyer” if Benn has been eating lots of “eggs”.

Common sense dictates that Garcia “should” beat Benn on points, despite losing two of his last four fights, so he deserves to be the betting favourite. However, Benn seems willing to win by any means, so the result may depend on which fighter employs the better PED chemist. Anything can happen in this fight if Conor has been artificially “supercharged” by a diet of “eggs”.

[keithmoonhangover]

Chris Eubank Jr (35) — naturally a 168lb fighter,

He weighed 160 or less for the three previous years and his trainer said in the build up to the Benn rematch, that Jnr was going to win a world title at 160 in the following fight.

[mickey1975]

Conor Benn looked poor against Regis Prograis, but “form” is irrelevant when we’re discussing a fighter that cycles on and off PEDs.

Best Names on Conor Benn’s Record:

• Chris Eubank Jr (35) — naturally a 168lb fighter, but drained down to 159lbs. He was past his best, inconsistent, coming off a recent KO loss, and faded badly after being dropped twice late.
• Regis Prograis (37) — naturally a 140lb fighter, but made to fight at 149–150lbs. He had only one win in three years, had lost to Haney and Catterall, looked faded, and was well above his best weight.
• Chris Algieri (37) — a former 140lb fighter at 146lbs. He was inactive, long past his best, coming off earlier losses, and was more of a veteran than a top contender.
• Chris van Heerden (34) — past his best, worn down, and coming off a brutal KO loss to Jaron Ennis. He looked damaged and faded.

From memory, Benn failed two drug tests in 2022, in July and September. Since then, he has not knocked anyone out. By the Garcia fight, it will be four years since Benn’s last KO win.

By contrast, Ryan Garcia spent most of his career, from 2016 to 2023, fighting at 135lbs or below.

Garcia’s best “win” was against Devin Haney, but it hurt his career because he badly missed weight and he also failed a PED test.

Garcia is the better boxer with a superior resume, but Benn is physically bigger, reportedly rehydrating to around the 170lbs+ mark. Garcia could be out-gunned and out-worked by “The Destroyer” if Benn has been eating lots of “eggs”.

Common sense dictates that Garcia “should” beat Benn on points, despite losing two of his last four fights, so he deserves to be the betting favourite. However, Benn seems willing to win by any means, so the result may depend on which fighter employs the better PED chemist. Anything can happen in this fight if Conor has been artificially “supercharged” by a diet of “eggs”.

Garcias pedigree is on a different level to Benns.

[Taansend]

• Chris Eubank Jr (35) — naturally a 168lb fighter, but drained down to 159lbs.

This was a lovely write up, Eolaithe, but I do take issue with this part.

Eubank hasn't weighed more than 162 pounds since he beat Degale in February 2019 - other than some bloke named Wank Awdijan in 2021 when he weighed 164.

I think the 168 myth was created by Eubank (& Hearn?) to help sell the fight with Benn.

In his 39 fights there was just a six fight stretch in 2017-2019 when he fought near the 168 limit. All the others have been around 159-162.

So either Eubank is a weight bully or weight drained but none of that is down to Benn.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I think with Eubank, the issue was not that he couldn’t make 160. He could. It was more the rehydration clause.

When it was first going to happen, the weight there was 157 or 158. That was an issue.

Eubank made the whole 160 an angle to sell the fight.

[MPW]

I think with Eubank, the issue was not that he couldn’t make 160. He could. It was more the rehydration clause.

When it was first going to happen, the weight there was 157 or 158. That was an issue.

Eubank made the whole 160 an angle to sell the fight.

I agree with you about the rehydration clause. Making 160 may not have been real easy for Eubank but, after getting there, it was compounded by the fact he wasn't able to properly - for him - rehydrate his typical 14-15 pounds after the weigh in.

[Taansend]

In that case he's a weight bully.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn fight confirmed for September 12 in Las Vegas

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya has confirmed to Boxing Scene that his fighter, WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia's first title defense will be against the UK's Conor Benn on September 12, 2026, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The fight, which will be broadcast globally on Paramount+ and on DAZN in the UK, will be co-promoted by De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions and Dana White's Zuffa Boxing.

Garcia, 25-2 (20 KOs), of Los Angeles took the WBC belt from Mario Barrios in February of this year via wide unanimous decision, giving the 27-year-old his first major world championship after having previously held the WBC Interim world lightweight title in 2021.

Benn, 25-2-1 (14 KOs), the No. 1 contender for Garcia’s WBC title, was last seen taking a unanimous 10-round decision over former champion Regis Prograis in April. Before that, the 29-year-old gained revenge for the only defeat of his professional career, a decision loss in April 2025 to Chris Eubank Jnr, by dropping Eubank Jnr twice on the way to winning a unanimous 12-round decision in the November 2025 rematch.

The Garcia matchup will be the first world title challenge of Benn's career. He and Garcia have been going back-and-forth in a war of words for months in the leadup to today’s official announcement.

Garcia had previously revealed his intention to face Benn on the Jimmy Fallon Show, earlier this year.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn set for Sept. 12 in Las Vegas

The long-rumored welterweight championship bout between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn is finally official.
Garcia will defend his WBC 147-pound title against Benn on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Their 12-round fight was officially announced on social media Wednesday evening.

The Garcia-Benn card will be live globally on Paramount+ and exclusively on DAZN across UK and Ireland, with Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) making his first world championship defense.

It means returning to the same location where he outboxed and outpointed Mario Barrios, winning a wide unanimous decision (119-108, 120-107, 118-109) on February 21. That victory was his first since December 2023, where he stopped Oscar Duarte in the eighth round of their 140-pound catchweight contest.

The Victorville, California native’s majority-decision victory over rival Devin Haney in April 2024 was changed to a no-contest because Garcia tested positive for ostarine, a banned substance.

Garcia, 27, is The Ring’s No. 5-ranked welterweight.

England’s Benn (25-1, 14 KOs) will get his first world title opportunity. He last fought at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds in April 2022, when the son of British legend Nigel Benn stopped Chris Van Heerden in the second round.

Benn, 29, is coming off a one-sided, unanimous-decision victory over two-time junior welterweight titleholder Regis Prograis on April 11 in a 10-round, 150-pound catchweight bout at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Done deal: Ryan Garcia to defend 147 title vs. Conor Benn on Sept. 12

Card will stream on Paramount+ globally except for U.K. and Ireland, where it will be shown via DAZN PPV

Ryan Garcia will make his first WBC welterweight title defense against Conor Benn on Sept. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a long-expected fight bogged down by contract issues between warring factions but finally signed by all involved and announced on Wednesday.

The Ring magazine event spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, who owns The Ring, and Sela, will stream globally on Paramount+ with the exception of Benn’s home country of the United Kingdom, as well as Ireland, where it will be available via DAZN pay-per-view.

The broadcast situation, as well as getting Garcia promoter Golden Boy and Benn’s new promoter, Zuffa Boxing, to work together was difficult and acrimonious. Besides the never-ending issues between Golden Boy and Garcia, Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya and Zuffa Boxing promoter Dana White despise each other and have relentlessly verbally attacked each other for months.

In late May, Mexican-American Garcia appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and told host Jimmy Fallon he was next facing Benn on Sept. 12 — Mexican Independence Day weekend — in Las Vegas. However, the deal was still far from finalized.

Several sources involved told Fight Freaks Unite that the fight was due to be formally announced this past Friday at the ceremonial weigh-in for the UFC card headlined by the Max Holloway-Conor McGregor rematch at T-Mobile Arena – UFC and Zuffa Boxing are sister companies both run by White – but they still were not able to get everything finalized. That announcement was canceled even though Garcia, Benn, members of their teams and the Zuffa Boxing media relations staff was on hand.

But the deal is done now, in part because Golden Boy and DAZN, its streaming partner, signed off on the bout being on Paramount+ in exchange for financial considerations and because Garcia extended his deal with them for at least one more fight — which, along with the Benn bout, will be co-promoted by Ryan Garcia Promotions — sources involved told Fight Freaks Unite.

Garcia-Benn, a fight matching two major names but both of whom have been tainted by positive performance-enhancing drug tests and subsequent punishments, will be by far the highest-profile fight Zuffa Boxing, which is backed by Alalshikh and Sela, will have put on since its partnership with Paramount+ kicked off in January.

The match also marks a change of course for White, who has previously vowed not to work with other promoters or the sanctioning organizations.

“This is such a great fight,” White said. “Conor Benn has won 26 of his 27 professional fights and is coming off a big win in the U.K. earlier this year. Ryan Garcia is one of the biggest stars in boxing and a world champion. These guys are in their prime, and it’s a fight they’ve both wanted for a long time.”

De La Hoya posted a video also announcing the fight.

“It’s on, baby,” De La Hoya said. “After long negotiations, Ryan Garcia versus Conor Benn is a done deal. Golden Boy Promotions and Sela made it happen. It’s the fight Ryan asked for.”

Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs), 27, of Los Angeles, will return to T-Mobile Arena, the site of his biggest win and biggest loss. In his last fight on Feb. 21, he dropped Mario Barrios in the first round and cruised to a near-shutout decision to win the 147-pound title. It is also the same arena where he got knocked out in the seventh-round by a Gervonta Davis body shot in their 136-pound blockbuster event in April 2023.

Benn (25-1, 14 KOs), 29, the son of British legend Nigel Benn, a two-division titleholder, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last month, has long coveted a shot at a WBC title because his father held the WBC super middleweight belt from1992 to 1996.

Benn suffered his lone loss via decision in April 2025 in the fight of the year when he moved up to middleweight for a massively hyped grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr. in a continuation of the family feud stoked by the two memorable world title fights their fathers had in the 1990s. Conor Benn avenged his loss with a one-sided decision victory in the immediate rematch with Eubank Jr. in November.

Benn followed up by returning to welterweight for a lopsided 10-round decision over former two-time junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis in a one-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing in April in London in the co-feature of the Tyson Fury-Arslanbek Makhmudov fight on Netflix. Soon after that win Benn signed a five-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing.

Immediately after beating Prograis, Benn called out Garcia.

“Ryan Garcia next. I want a WBC world title,” Benn said in the ring at the time. “That’s what I’ve been dreaming of and working hard toward for the past 10 years. He can get it next and get a better version of me.”

They have gone back and forth on social media since, as they did again on Wednesday.

“You talk too much. I’m gonna smash your head in,” Benn wrote to Garcia.

Garcia’s reply: “I told you in person you aren’t a good enough fighter to beat me. “You forced your self in this position. I will show the lesson of rushing into something you just aren’t ready for.”

Garcia also showed appreciation toward his team for getting the complicated deal finalized.

“Big thank you to my partners at DAZN for being extremely helpful to making this happen,” Garcia wrote. “Also of course to HE (His Excellency Alalshikh) and the whole Ring magazine team!!! The way everyone came together to make this huge fight happen is amazing and boxing needs more of it!”

[Eolaithe]

Chris Eubank Jr (35) — naturally a 168lb fighter,

He weighed 160 or less for the three previous years and his trainer said in the build up to the Benn rematch, that Jnr was going to win a world title at 160 in the following fight.

• Chris Eubank Jr (35) — naturally a 168lb fighter, but drained down to 159lbs.

This was a lovely write up, Eolaithe, but I do take issue with this part.

Eubank hasn't weighed more than 162 pounds since he beat Degale in February 2019 - other than some bloke named Wank Awdijan in 2021 when he weighed 164.

I think the 168 myth was created by Eubank (& Hearn?) to help sell the fight with Benn.

In his 39 fights there was just a six fight stretch in 2017-2019 when he fought near the 168 limit. All the others have been around 159-162.

So either Eubank is a weight bully or weight drained but none of that is down to Benn.

Chris Eubank Jr. made his middleweight debut on his 18th bout - his previous seventeen fights (between 2011 to 2014) were all at 168lbs. The vast majority of his bouts between 2017 to 2021 were competed at super middleweight.

And as far as I'm aware, he had to face Conor Benn at 160lbs with a 170lbs rehydration limit, which he'd never previously entered the ring weighing so little.

To put that into context, the following fighters (when competing at 154lbs) all rehydrated to 170lbs or more for their super welterweight bouts: Canelo, Terence Crawford, Sebastian Fundora, Jermell Charlo and Tim Tszyu, but Eubank Jr. had to face Conor Benn weighing less than they did.

[SeanBrennan]

He’ll have been hugely weight drained

[Taansend]

Chris Eubank Jr (35) — naturally a 168lb fighter,

He weighed 160 or less for the three previous years and his trainer said in the build up to the Benn rematch, that Jnr was going to win a world title at 160 in the following fight.

• Chris Eubank Jr (35) — naturally a 168lb fighter, but drained down to 159lbs.

This was a lovely write up, Eolaithe, but I do take issue with this part.

Eubank hasn't weighed more than 162 pounds since he beat Degale in February 2019 - other than some bloke named Wank Awdijan in 2021 when he weighed 164.

I think the 168 myth was created by Eubank (& Hearn?) to help sell the fight with Benn.

In his 39 fights there was just a six fight stretch in 2017-2019 when he fought near the 168 limit. All the others have been around 159-162.

So either Eubank is a weight bully or weight drained but none of that is down to Benn.

Chris Eubank Jr. made his middleweight debut on his 18th bout - his previous seventeen fights (between 2011 to 2014) were all at 168lbs. The vast majority of his bouts between 2017 to 2021 were competed at super middleweight.

And as far as I'm aware, he had to face Conor Benn at 160lbs with a 170lbs rehydration limit, which he'd never previously entered the ring weighing so little.

To put that into context, the following fighters (when competing at 154lbs) all rehydrated to 170lbs or more for their super welterweight bouts: Canelo, Terence Crawford, Sebastian Fundora, Jermell Charlo and Tim Tszyu, but Eubank Jr. had to face Conor Benn weighing less than they did.

They weren't at 168, mate. They were slightly over the 160 limit which is common practice for young pros. They don't have to make weight for a championship fight so they come in a couple of pounds over.

This happens at every weight all the way up till Cruiser.

Everyone who knows boxing knows this.

You're just being silly now by pretending he was a Super Middle from the off.

[Taansend]

The press conference was bloody embarrassing.

Two middle class kids acting like brats.

[SeanBrennan]

The press conference was bloody embarrassing.

Two middle class kids acting like brats.

Seems a good summary of what I saw.