What Garcia and Benn each need to get right at T-Mobile Arena
Michael Huezo
Host · Writer
LAS VEGAS — Ryan Garcia skipped Tuesday's scheduled face-off with Conor Benn, and when he was asked about it at Wednesday's media day, he didn't dress it up. He said he simply didn't want to be there, that he's skipped face-offs throughout his career, and that he'd never even heard of one happening on a Wednesday. He pointed out there are three more chances to stand across from Benn before Saturday, at Thursday's press conference, Friday's weigh-in, and the ring walk itself, and said he was just sticking to the routine he keeps during fight week. By Thursday, both fighters are in the same room for the final press conference, and the questions figure to get sharper.
The stakes are straightforward. Garcia defends the WBC welterweight title he won in February over Mario Barrios, his first defense in the same building he fights in again. Benn arrives 25-1 with 14 knockouts, unbeaten at welterweight since moving back down from 160 to beat Regis Prograis in his Zuffa Boxing debut this past April, the win that got him here. It's his first world title shot, and a chance to do in Las Vegas what his father, Nigel Benn, never quite managed.
What decides it comes down to what both guys do with their hands.
Garcia's path runs through his hand speed. Nobody at 147 turns speed into finishing power the way he does when he's set correctly, and that speed is what broke Barrios down over twelve rounds. The concern with Garcia has never been the ceiling. It's the floor. He's shown he can be hit clean and hurt by a fighter willing to sit down and trade, which is how he lost to Rolando Romero. Benn hits harder than Romero does. If Garcia treats the opening rounds like an audition instead of a fight, that's the window Benn is looking for.
Benn's path is about weight of shot and volume. He's spent two years proving he can take a firm chin and keep coming, first against Chris Eubank Jr. twice, then against Prograis. His hole is the level jump. Garcia hits with a different kind of speed than anyone Benn has faced at this weight, and Benn has never had to solve a problem that fast. If he tries to walk Garcia down in a straight line without cutting off the ring first, he spends the night chasing instead of landing.
On paper, the resume favors Garcia. He's shared a ring with names like Devin Haney and Romero at a higher volume of marquee fights than Benn has seen. Benn's two best wins, the Eubank rematch and Prograis, both came at a different weight than Saturday's. That doesn't make his resume thin. It makes Saturday the first time everything he's built gets tested against a true 147-pound puncher with title-fight speed.
Garcia and Benn get their next chance to say all this to each other's faces Thursday at T-Mobile Arena.
