Ryan Garcia says fight with Conor Benn “is a little personal”
Ryan Garcia just revealed his next fight will be against Conor Benn.
Live on The Jimmy Fallon Show, WBC World welterweight champion Ryan Garcia exclusively revealed, “I can say that we are fighting September 12th, it will be in Vegas, and the opponent, let’s just say, he’s from the other side…”
After a brief pause, the 27-year-old Californian decided to release his opponent’s name, “He’s from across the pond. I’m sorry, I’ll just say his name, just because I love this show, his name is Conor Benn.”
29-year-old Brit Conor Benn is ranked WBC #1 despite not fighting at welterweight since April 2022, four years ago.
“He’s talking a lot, he’s talking crazy,” ‘KingRy’ continued.
“He actually confronted me at an awards show, two years ago, and my wife was there and he just pressed up on me, grabbed me, yeah so it’s a little personal.
“So, we’ll be ready to go get him, trust me guys! We’ll show them how it’s done!”
Garcia won the WBC World welterweight title in his last fight against Mario Barrios in February, dropping him in the first minute. Prior to that he had been subject to an upset by underdog Rolando Romero in May 2025, dropped in the second round and decisioned unanimously.
Benn has won his last two fights to bounce back from a unanimous decision defeat to family rival Chris Eubank Jr in April 2025. Despite the epic battle see-sawing back-and-forth, Benn was beaten for the first time in his career 116-112 on all three cards.
He came back seven months on to even the score with a much wider UD, dropping Eubank twice in the last round. However, the Brighton boxer was a shell of himself, seemingly weight-drained and exhausted by the rehydration clauses put in place for the middle/super-middleweight.
In April this year, Benn fought Regis Prograis at a catchweight of 150lbs and defeated the former super-lightweight world champion, who was carrying an injury into the fight, in a scrappy, uneventful fight.
Both Garcia and Benn are larger than life, loud, colourful characters, who will guarantee a very fiery build-up.
Last Five fights
Ryan Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs)
WON-UD 12 Mario Barrios
LOST-UD 12 Rolando Romero
NC-12 Devin Haney
WON-KO 8 Oscar Duarte
LOST-KO 7 Gervonta Davis
Conor Benn (25-1, 14 KOs)
WON-UD 10 Regis Prograis
WON UD 12 Chris Eubank Jr
LOST-UD 12 Chris Eubank Jr
WON-UD 12 Peter Dobson
WON-UD 10 Rodolfo Orozco
