Conor Benn completely unsurprised about the way he knocked out Chris Algieri
Undefeated WBA Continental welterweight champion Conor Benn (20-0, 13KOs) spoke exclusively to Danny Flexen from SecondsOut following his statement win over former world champion Chris Algieri last weekend on December 11 in Liverpool.
Firstly, he discussed the stunning KO that iced American Algieri out cold in the fourth round, "It didn't come as a surprise to me, I kept saying on the lead up to the fight, I plan on making this fight look exactly like the fight is supposed to be, which I did, everyone kept saying it's gonne be a this, it's gonna be that, but I knew what I'm capable of, I know what I've been working on. People go 'Oh yeah, his last fight, or the fight before that,' ya know, I change daily, and the next fight you'll see something completely different. I'm not surprised the stoppage come early."
The 25-year-old then compared his last two opponents. He had a frustrating points win over Adrian Granados in September where he was visibly annoyed with his Mexican opponent, who largely ran from him for the full 10-rounds in Leeds. He drew the comparisons, "The difference between him and Granados was that he actually tried to win, which allowed me to capitalise on a lot more, it allowed me to counter it, it allowed me to work with more. You can't look good against someone in there who don't wanna win or ain't bothered about winning.
"So, Vargas, Formella, Jussi Koivula… ya know, if you have come to win, with every intention of winning, likely I will catch you at some stage and likely I'll get you out of there."
And he did exactly that to the unsuspecting Algieri, with a clever feint to the body to start of the finishing move, followed by a super speedy, accurate, powerful one-two to the chin, but Benn isn't getting carried away with how good the KO actually was, "I've landed a few good shots on people, it was a good shot, don't get me wrong, but it weren't like… I've landed some more spiteful ones before, yeah. It was a good shot, knockout of the year, for sure."
Immediately after the fight, the discussions inevitably turned to who could be next for the world-ranked Benn. Domestic rivals Amir Khan and Kell Brook are fighting next February and there has already been talk of Conor facing the winner of that, but there's also another American who fans would love to see Benn box next – Adrien Broner.
"The public want to see it, he's a massive name, would be the biggest name on my resume, at the end of the day the big fights are what the public want and what I want," he reasoned.
Ranked in the top five with the WBA, Benn is calling for his shot at the world titleholder Yordenis Ugas (27-4, 12KOs), who won the 'Super' version from Manny Pacquaio in his last fight.
"If we can't get Ugas next, which obviously we can't because he's fighting his mandatory, hopefully I'll have Broner as a warm-up fight which will still be a sell-out fight, and then challenge for the world title next."
Broner (34-4-1, 24KOs) is a four-weight world champion, winning world titles from super-feather up to welterweight, who's last defeat came at the hands of now-retired Manny Pacquaio, which was almost three years ago now. However, he is once again active, recording a win over Puerto Rican Jovanie Santiago (14-2-1, 10KOs) over 12-rounds in February this year.
"I'd like it to be here and I believe Eddie is making a fight for March/April, hopefully at the O2 Arena," Benn exclusively revealed.
"I do heavyweight numbers, so it's a blessing to have Britain backing me; number one, I'd like it here for the British fans. I'm sure British fans would absolutely love that fight, my social media has been blowing up for Broner, so. He's a great fighter, obviously a four-weight world champion, yeah I fancy a bit of that as a fighter on my resume. I leave the rest to my team, but I believe Eddie Hearn is making that fight, here."
Watch the full interview here:
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