It shouldn’t be too much longer before it is revealed when Conor Benn will return to the ring, who he will fight, and – maybe most intriguingly – where that fight will take place.
In the summer of 2023 the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) and UK Anti-Doping launched an appeal against the National Anti-Doping Panel ruling that lifted Benn’s suspension from competition.
A decision on that appeal is expected shortly and Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, is preparing their next move.
“We’re just waiting on the appeal and that’ll determine where he fights next,” Hearn told boxingscene.com . “It’s difficult to nail the opponent before he knows where he’ll be fighting.”
Danny Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) seems the most likely.
The 35 year old two-weight world champion has been woefully inactive. He has boxed just once since losing a wide unanimous decision to then-unified welterweight champion Errol Spence back in 2020, and his career peaked around a decade ago when he enjoyed a successful reign as a unified super-lightweight champion.
Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) has been linked to a host of elite fighters over the past few weeks but Garcia would seem to provide the Londoner with the opportunity to record a high-profile victory.
When it does happen, Benn’s return to action in Britain will be a major event no matter the opponent, but even in the even of him not next fighting in the UK, Hearn recognises that Garcia retains sufficient reputational value to ensure that a fight with Benn is a significant attraction on either side of the Atlantic.
“He’s got the profile in America and he’s got the profile in England,” Hearn said. “It fills the O2; it does well in America. We’ll see where we do it.”
A fight seems likely to take place at 154lbs. Garcia hasn’t made welterweight since losing to Spence and weighed in just under the super welterweight limit for his decision victory over Jose Benavidez Jr in July 2022.
Benn hasn’t made 147lbs for almost two years. He boxed Rodolfo Orozco at junior middleweight and then weighed in at 150lbs for his tougher-than-expected decision victory over Pete Dobson in February.
“I prefer him at 147lbs,” Hearn said. “The problem is, he was always fighting Eubank so he was fighting at 157lbs.
“Then, for the last one he was gonna do it at 160lbs. He’s had that in his mind so he hasn’t really been thinking about 147lbs. Now, I think he needs to get back there but if he fights at 154lbs it won’t be a problem.”