“Great fight. Tough, durable, experienced. You know, you had to weather some storms, but we’re good, thank God. Praise God. Praise God for the victory. First fight back at 150 in 3 years; now ready to move that to 147 and get Ryan Garcia. Garcia, I want my belt. I want belt.” With the noise drowning everything at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Conor Benn made his point about what’s next. And it appears the heavens heard him, loud and clear.
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Conor Benn backed it up in the ring, defeating former two-time champion Regis Prograis by unanimous decision in the co-main event of the Netflix boxing card headlined by Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov. With the win, he set his sights on a welterweight title and immediately called out Ryan Garcia. The callout quickly gained traction. Rumors now indicate that a fight is being planned for August this year.
“🚨🚨🚨Ryan Garcia Vs. Connor Benn on Netflix… ¿August 2026?” wrote ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez, hinting at August 15.
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That report followed Benn’s call out to Garcia, who did not take long to respond.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Garcia, I want my belt,” Benn stated, back in his dressing room. “I want my belt. Keep my belt warm. September, let’s go! 10 rounds easy. Garcia, you’re next. Keep my belt warm.”
🚨🚨🚨
Ryan Garcia Vs. Connor Benn on Netflix… ¿August 2026? pic.twitter.com/GmSwY1LwAA
— Salvador Rodriguez (@ChavaESPN) April 12, 2026
Putting a spin on his surname, the American champion initially called him “CONOR BUMM,” saying that fighters have been calling him out for a payday. Yet, in his next tweet, Garcia accepted the English welterweight’s challenge.
“I’m down (for) GARCIA VS BENN,” he wrote. “Let’s do it!!!!!!”
In that context, a Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn fight is a realistic possibility, given that the two match up in the same division and that the stakes already align.
Conor Benn vs. Ryan Garcia: Smoke or showdown?
Benn’s positioning across sanctioning bodies only strengthens that case. At 154 pounds, he is ranked 10th by the IBF. A division below, he holds the 4th spot in the WBA rankings and is the WBC’s top-ranked contender, making him a mandatory challenger to Garcia’s title.
The tension between the two has also been building for months. In January, as Garcia prepared to face Mario Barrios, Benn had already hinted at a potential clash, saying he expected a matchup later this year if Garcia won.
“Garcia, you know, we’re hoping Garcia wins because that would be a stadium whether we do Rolly in the meantime,” Benn told Ariel Helwani. “And then have Garcia or Barrios in June, July, August, or September.”
While the fight is yet to be confirmed, attention has already shifted to how it might play out.
Weighing in on Benn’s performance against Prograis, Sean Zittel believes the challenge ahead could be steep. At 154 pounds, he sees Benn struggling, and even at welterweight, the matchup is far from straightforward.
“And then at 47, he’s (Benn) not that strong. He’s not hitting like that,” Zittel stated. “So I think if Conor Benn wants to win a world title, he’s the WBC mandatory. I don’t think he beats Ryan Garcia. And maybe it’s a boring fight because you saw he was very respectful of Regis’s left hand. What if he fights like that against Ryan? What if he doesn’t go for it like that and it’s not that entertaining a fight? Because I think if he goes for it, Ryan could knock him out.
For now, the storyline continues to build.
Benn has labeled Garcia a coward, maintaining that while he has been chasing the fight, the American has taken a more cautious approach – watching how Benn has performed at different weights before making any final decision. With the call outs, the response, and the stakes aligning, it now comes down to Garcia’s response.
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Edited by
Deepali Verma