Eddie Hearn Floats Ryan Garcia Vs. Conor Benn Despite Eubank Jr. Rematch: A Clout-Chasing Callout Or Genuine Interest?

Promoter Eddie Hearn says Conor Benn is interested in fighting Ryan Garcia and that he’ll be in New York to call him out. However, Hearn isn’t saying what the purpose of Benn (23-1, 14 KOs) calling out Garcia, because he’s already under contract for a rematch with Chris Eubank Jr.

(Photo by Geoffrey Knott/Matchroom.)

Eubank Jr. beat Conor by a 12-round unanimous decision last Saturday, sweeping the last nine rounds of the fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London. The rematch will be more of the same, with Eubank Jr. taking advantage of Benn’s inability to fight on the inside and will probably knock him out.

Attention Grab

“It’s a huge fight. Conor Benn has wanted the Ryan Garcia fight for a long time. I think he’ll call him out tomorrow when he’s here as well,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Fighthype when asked about a possible fight between Conor Benn and Ryan Garcia.

There’s no point in Benn calling out Ryan if he’s not going to fight him next. Why call Kingry out if you’re just going to be facing Eubank Jr. in an immediate rematch? That would just seem like a cheap clout-chasing move on Conor’s part to take advantage of the interest in Ryan Garcia this week due to his fight against Rolly Romero on Friday.

Ryan has better options available to him than fighting what will be a down-and-out Conor Benn, coming into a fight against him with a 0-2 record, just looking for another payday that he doesn’t rate. If Benn loses the rematch with Eubank Jr, he needs to return to fighting the tomato cans that he built his record on.

Benn would be trying to take some of the spotlight off of Ryan and put it on him without any serious intent on fighting him next. If you’re Ryan, you need to see through this and ignore Conor and any questions asked by the media about fighting him, as it would be designed to help his career while leeching off his moment in the sun from his fight against Rolando.

Benn Headline Hunting?

“It’s a great fight, now two huge stars. I think Conor Benn has proved himself as a world class fighter. The physicality he has to give away fighting a middleweight are obvious, particularly later in that fight [Chris Eubank Jr.] in 11 and 12.

“He wants to get his hands on him again. He wants redemption, and we know how big the fight is. It’s massive,” said Hearn.

There probably won’t be enough left of Conor Benn after his rematch with Eubank Jr. for a fight against Ryan to be a viable one to sell to the public. If Benn takes an even worse beating against Eubank Jr, there won’t be any fan interest in a match against Kingry. Benn would be 0-2, and not exactly the ideal candidate for a mega-fight against Garcia.

If Hearn wants the Garcia-Benn fight to happen, he needs to schedule it to be next while Conor is still riding the wave of his gutsy loss to Eubank Jr. He lost 9 of the last 12 rounds in that fight, but he never stopped trying. Fans are interested in Benn’s career after that effort, but they’ll quickly abandon ship if he gets beaten again by Eubank Jr.