How Conor Benn Can BEAT Ryan Garcia

Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn will square off for Garcia’s WBC Welterweight World Title on September 12. Initially, this looks like something of a ‘gimme’ for ‘King Ry’, but it might not be as clear-cut as one may initially imagine.

Both fighters have taken on a villainous role within the sport in recent years. Benn’s arrogant theatrics and failed PED test rubbed plenty of people up the wrong way, especially so when he unceremoniously ditched Matchroom to join the lucrative Zuffa Boxing earlier in the year.

Let’s call it out – it was little more than a betrayal of Matchroom. Eddie Hearn had defended and mollycoddled Benn to the hilt, only for him to part ways without so much as a courtesy phone call.

Garcia is certainly no angel himself. His antics on social media have earned him the ire of several audiences – he used platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) to broadcast racist and Islamophobic rants to the world. Oh, and he also failed a drugs test after his fight with Devin Haney. These two certainly deserve each other, don’t they?

But we’re not here to give them a character examination – we’re looking at their upcoming fight. Specifically, we’re examining why we think Benn could pull off the upset against Garcia.

He isn’t expected to win – according to Oddschecker, Bet365 has Garcia as a 1/4 favourite at the time of writing. Benn, on the other hand, has odds of 10/3.

Examining Ryan Garcia’s loss to Rolly Romero

Benn already has a blueprint in place to defeat Garcia – namely, his defeat against Rolly Romero back in 2025. Garcia actually started this fight strong, using his jab to great effect, before Romero found his timing and dropped him with a pair of left hooks.

From then on, by merely keeping his right hand up and staying out of Garcia’s preferred range, ‘King Ry’ was unable to create an opening. It was a dull, slow-paced encounter in which Romero frustrated his opponent, eventually leading to a wide unanimous decision victory in Times Square.

After this, Ryan was unwilling to throw the jab, as he looked uncomfortable for the remainder of the fight. Romero, on the other hand, was having success by throwing shots from awkward angles and targeting the body.

Garcia can be hittable – if Benn can find a way to counter over the top of his jab, he could put him in a world of trouble. Benn isn’t the most defensively responsible fighter in the world either, but his chin should keep him out of too much danger.

Yes, Benn was dropped by journeyman Cedrick Peynaud back in 2017, but we can forgive him for this on account of being *checks notes* 20 years of age. He took some heavy shots from Chris Eubank Jr, a solid puncher in his own right, and never left his feet.

Can Conor Benn replicate Romero’s performance?

Benn isn’t the biggest puncher in the world – his most notable knockout victories came before his positive PED test. He hasn’t secured a knockout victory since this, despite facing opponents who he really should’ve been stopping. Nevertheless, he has much, much faster hands than Romero does.

Garcia’s greatest attribute is his hand speed, but if Benn can find his timing and upset his rhythm, he could force Garcia to abandon his game plan and shell up. An aggressive fighter who likes to come forward and bully his opponents, Benn is capable of doing this.

But can he maintain his composure in front of a fearsome puncher like Garcia? In his first fight with Eubank Jr, he threw caution to the wind, loading up on every shot rather than boxing intelligently. He was much better in the rematch, but Eubank Jr was little more than a glorified punching bag in that fight.

He will need to stay out of mid-range as much as possible to avoid Garcia’s legendary left hook. From long range, it can’t touch him – meanwhile, Garcia won’t be able to find the necessary power when up close. If Benn can match Garcia’s jab and counter it effectively, while roughing him up on the inside, we give him a solid chance of beating the California man.

We’d also suggest that Garcia is a little too flat-footed. He likes to plant his feet to generate power in his shots, but Benn can be a great in-and-out fighter when he wants to be. Of course, he will still need to be mindful of Ryan’s rapid counter-punches, but it will help him in picking the champion off like Romero did.

How likely is Conor Benn to beat Ryan Garcia?

Benn certainly has the tools to rock the apple cart and win the title, but we can’t overlook a few certain aspects. If he loses his cool and tries to turn the fight into a brawl, he will leave too many openings for Garcia to exploit. Sure, he might survive a few flush power punches, but they’ll discourage him at very least.

Secondly, Garcia’s lightning-quick jab will cause him problems if Garcia can remain committed to it. Benn doesn’t move his head enough, which will make him a wide-open target for the straight left.

As well as this, Garcia put forth a much-improved performance against Mario Barrios to win the title. Barrios was a weak champion, but don’t let this detract from Garcia’s display – his punch selection was spot-on, as was his timing. Some of his prior weaknesses, like his head movement and slow feet, looked far less prominent than before.

A fully-focused Garcia beats Benn more often than not. If Benn can get to him early, then an upset could be on the cards, but we’ll back ‘King Ry’ to drop him at least once en route to a decision victory.