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Conor Benn remains hopeful that Eddie Hearn will be able to offer Adrien Broner enough money to entice the former champion to box Benn early in 2022.
If, no matter how high Hearn can go, Broner won’t commit to battling Benn, the emerging English welterweight is more than willing to face former champions from the United States who’ve either beaten Broner or seemingly have more championship-caliber boxing left in them than Broner at these respective stages they occupy in their careers. The 25-year-old Benn (20-0, 13 KOs), a son of British legend Nigel Benn, discussed his options with BoxingScene.com following his one-punch, fourth-round knockout of former WBO junior welterweight champ Chris Algieri (25-4, 9 KOs) on Saturday night at Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.
“Money talks at the end of the day,” Benn said. “So, I’ve heard Eddie Hearn is trying to make [the Broner fight] happen for the early part of next year. If that doesn’t happen, you’ve got the likes of Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia, who I’d love to share the ring with. I’d like another top American. Ultimately, I leave it with my promoter and my team. I’d like the [Yordenis] Ugas fight. I know Ugas is fighting his mandatory, so I know he’s got a tough fight there. … But if they offered me that fight tomorrow, I’d take it as well.”
The Cuban-born Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) is expected to make a mandated defense of his WBA “super” welterweight title against Lithuania’s Eimantas Stanionis (13-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) in his next fight. Danny Garcia and Mikey Garcia are free, however, to fight whomever they want once they decide to return to the ring next year.
Danny Garcia hasn’t boxed in slightly over a year. In his most recent appearance, Errol Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) soundly defeated Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) in their 12-round fight for Spence’s IBF and WBC welterweight titles in December 2020 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Danny Garcia has since said he will move up to the 154-pound division, though the Philadelphia native’s return hasn’t been scheduled.
Mikey Garcia, meanwhile, will attempt to regroup following his stunning, majority-decision defeat to Sandor Martin on October 16 in Fresno, California. Spain’s Martin (39-2, 13 KOs) out-boxed a lethargic Garcia (40-2, 30 KOs), of Moreno Valley, California, and pulled off boxing’s biggest upset of 2020.
As for Benn, he is listed fifth among welterweight contenders ranked by the WBA and WBC. He figures to move up in those ratings after his impressive victory over the 37-year-old Algieri, of Huntington, New York.
“I wasn’t surprised because I know how I’ve been feeling and how I’ve been looking in the gym,” Benn said. “But, you know, I was glad I made a statement with that knockout. It was similar to the [Samuel] Vargas knockout. … It’s not about the opponents. It’s how I beat them. It’s how I look beating them that’s important to me in comparison to the former world champions that [Algieri has] fought, like Khan, Spence, Pacquiao, and [Adrian] Granados with Robert Easter, Broner, Danny Garcia. Samuel Vargas with Vergil Ortiz, Amir Khan. So, when we do them comparisons – Sebastian Formella with Shawn Porter – beating them more convincingly than these guys, that’s the plan.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.