Ryan Garcia’s first title defense couldn’t have had a more fairy-tale ending. The WBC welterweight champion retained his belt with a vicious second-round TKO over Conor Benn at a packed T-Mobile Arena. However, Garcia’s victory quickly came under scrutiny because of the referee’s controversial call.

From the opening bell, both fighters looked incredibly fast and precise with their strikes. Benn closed the distance and attacked Garcia with multiple combinations. Still, the 28-year-old had success tagging the Brit with well-timed uppercuts and body shots. The first round looked highly competitive, with both welterweights landing shots on each other. But Garcia’s change of approach flipped the course of the fight in the following round.

Revealing an excellent game plan, Garcia continued attacking Benn’s body. However, instead of mixing it up with an uppercut, the Californian landed straight punches that got his opponent’s attention. At one point, Garcia off-balanced Benn with a precise left hand before finding a crushing right that dropped the Englishman onto the canvas. Yet, ‘The Destroyer’ got back to his feet before the referee could complete the count, but that was just the beginning of the end.

Smelling blood, Garcia continued his onslaught and backed Benn onto the ropes, where he kept tagging the Brit with a barrage of punches, which prompted referee Thomas Taylor to stop the fight. Even though the Englishman didn’t protest the stoppage, it looked like Benn survived quite a few shots. But, in the end, Taylor decided to spare ‘The Destroyer’ from taking more punishment.

Despite the ongoing contention surrounding the Garcia vs. Benn stoppage, the referee for Zuffa Boxing’s main event has a history of making controversial calls that often stir debates.

This year alone, Taylor received some heat for his controversial call in Sebastian Fundora vs. Keith Thurman’s WBC super-welterweight championship matchup, which took place in March. By the sixth round, the defending champ Fundora had bloodied Thurman and kept throwing punches in search of the knockout. Perhaps noticing Thurman’s lack of defense, Thomas Taylor stepped in and waved off the bout while the boxer was still standing.

Following the stoppage, the former unified welterweight world champion praised his opponent for putting on a good performance. However, Thurman lambasted Taylor for prematurely stopping the fight, saying the official shouldn’t get to ref another main event.

Besides that, Taylor also invited controversy after he stopped the 2019 WBO light-flyweight championship fight between Elwin Soto and Ángel Acosta with just 23 seconds remaining in the final round. During the fight, Soto wobbled Acosta, but the Puerto Rican boxer, who was ahead on the scorecards, protested the stoppage, insisting he wasn’t out. In that case, the official also faced backlash for stopping the fight too early.

Noticing the pattern once again at Zuffa Boxing’s marquee show, fans believe the official made the decision too quickly and started criticizing Taylor for the early stoppage. 

Fans slam referee after controversial stoppage at Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn fight 

One very angry fan quickly chimed in and wrote, “This ref always stops the fights too early. Let the f—g knockout happen. Still, Ryan Garcia has redeemed himself enough to set up that Haney rematch now.” 

Another fan commented, “That stoppage was TOO early; Ryan Garcia wasn’t even connecting on Conor Benn during that flurry LOL.” Following that, another user wrote, “EARLY stoppage for sure. BUT Ryan Garcia was about to stop Benn regardless.” 

As we can see, most fans agree that the stoppage came prematurely. Even the commentators immediately pointed that out right after the referee stopped the bout. However, looking at Garcia’s knockdown, it wouldn’t be hard to admit that Garcia could have left his opponent unconscious. 

But we didn’t get to see that, and hence, it left questions about whether the Englishman could have mounted a miraculous comeback if he had been given more time. Still, it’s not the first time a Ryan Garcia fight has seen an early stoppage.

In December 2023, ‘King Ry’ stopped Oscar Duarte in the eighth round at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. After a vicious knockdown by ‘King Ry’ in the eighth round, referee James Green waved off the fight, a decision that Duarte didn’t agree with. Following the fight, the Mexican fighter told ESPN that he was “disappointed” by the call and felt like he could have continued.

Coming to the reactions, a fan noticed that Benn wasn’t actually questioning the stoppage and wrote, “KING RYAN GARCIA 👑 Kellerman saying that it was an early stoppage, I can see where he’s coming from, but Conor Benn didn’t complain one bit.”

Again, the Brit probably realized there was no point in taking more damage after Garcia pulled off the brutal knockdown. Hence, he didn’t question the referee’s decision to stop the fight. But things will become clearer once Benn decides to open up about his loss, just like Rico Verhoeven did a few months back.  

After his controversial defeat against Oleksandr Usyk, the Dutchman clarified his stance on the referee prematurely stopping the fight just one second before the 12th and final round could begin.

That said, Zuffa Boxing definitely produced a spectacle that ended in dramatic fashion. Yet, the referee’s stoppage put a stain on the headlining fight.