Roy Jones Jr has some advice for Conor Benn ahead of his return to the boxing ring this year.
Benn is looking to fight for his maiden world title, having already stepped into the ring 25 times. The last two fights he has had have been some 15 odd lbs higher than his usual welterweight class in pursuit of his long time rival Chris Eubank Jr.
The first time it proved too much and Benn was soundly beaten on points, but in the rematch in November last year, he turned the tide and got a 12-round points win of his own.
Speaking to Clubhouse Boxing with experience of going up and down the weight classes, boxing legend Jones Jr was asked how Benn will get on reverting to welterweight having been up to 160 lbs.
“I think he’ll be OK because he didn’t put on as much weight as I did. I put on 25 lbs of muscle, and I still wasn’t as big as my opponent. He didn’t put on that much; he put on a little, but not that much, so I don’t think it will really affect Conor.
“Conor wants to do other things, and he wants go back to his weight class. The only reason he went up that weight was because of that big Benn Eubank rivalry. Benn’s not really a middleweight, so for him to cut back down, I don’t think it will really be a problem as long as he don’t rush it. If he rushes it, it will be a problem, if not he will be fine.”
Benn has named several targets this year, including Shakur Stevenson, Rolly Romero and the winner of the fight later this month between Mario Barrios and Ryan Garcia.
