Conor Benn‘s maiden world title fight against Ryan Garcia is fast approaching and Spencer Oliver has sounded a word of warning ahead of the first bell.
Benn has become one of the most talked-about fighters in the world over the last two years. First it was for all the wrong reasons as his long-awaited grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr was canned late in the day when he failed a drug test.
After serving a ban, he returned in 2025 to take on Eubank, losing the first fight on the cards before then winning the rematch with a wide points decision.
Earlier this year he took on former world champion Regis Prograis at a catch weight of 150lbs, having not fought at his usual weight of 147 for a couple of years.
He won the fight on points but was unable to produce some of the punching power of earlier in his career. Despite that, he has chased down his first world title shot, and it comes in September against WBC ruler Garcia.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, Oliver shared his main concern about Benn going into the contest.
“I think Ryan Garcia wins the fight and he possibly wins it by knockout, but I’m not writing off a Conor Benn performance.
“The only thing that really concerns me about Conor Benn going into this fight is not his characteristics and his will to win and his punch power, but making 147.
“A fighter that’s dead at the weight, we saw it in his last fight against Regis Prograis; down at 150, he looked dead at the weight. I know as a fighter, losing 3lbs in fluid is catastrophic. My worry is he can’t do 147 any more.”
Garcia has proven punching power and has been in with some top-level fights, including Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis.
He won his world title with a points victory over Mario Barrios and has fought more consistently at welterweight than Benn recently, which could be a big factor in the Las Vegas showdown on September 12.
