Teofimo Lopez has outlined the one thing that could separate Conor Benn and Ryan Garcia when they step into the ring together later this year.
Benn will be fighting in his maiden world title battle come September 12 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when he takes on Garcia.
The best wins of his career to date have been a rematch victory over a weight-drained Chris Eubank Jr back in November 2025, having lost the first fight six months earlier, and a points win over ageing former champion Regis Prograis, who had moved up to a weight he had never fought at before for the contest back in April.
Speaking to Fight Hub TV, former unified champion Lopez suggested that desire could be the deciding factor come fight night.
“I think that Conor Benn has a great chance of winning, of causing an upset. He wants it more. He may not have the skills but look what people said about Rolly and Rolly beat Ryan, so anything is possible. It all depends how bad you want it.
“Another thing is, I would say that Conor Benn has had more rugged fights, more tougher fights. But I think the only thing that takes me a step back is I don’t know if it’s true, it came from his own mouth or not, but this is his only fight at 147, so I got to go for Ryan. But we’ll see what happens.”
Despite promising plenty of drama in the fight, Benn has not fought down at the welterweight limit of 147 since 2022, which could be a problem given he has twice fought up at 160, and last time out he fought at a catchweight of 150lbs, and in none of those contests has he displayed the power he could need to keep Garcia at bay.
Garcia won his title by beating Rolly Romero and has also operated at the top level more than once, having shared the ring with both Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney, who have previously won several world titles between them.
