By Marcus Richardson: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn has announced that welterweight prospect Conor Benn (11-0, 8 KOs) has been added to the April 21 Sky Sports card headlined by welterweight Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) vs. junior middleweight journeyman Phil Lo Greco (28-3, 15 KOs) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.
The opponent for the 21-year-old Ben hasn’t been determined as of yet, but he should be named soon.
Benn’s stock went down badly after his recent poor performance against France’s Cedrick Peynaud (5-5-3, 2 KOs) in their fight on December 13 at the York Hall in Bethnal Green.
Returning on April 21 in Liverpool @ConorNigel makes his first 2018 appearance 🇬🇧 @SkySportsBoxing pic.twitter.com/DPPdQ3pU7e
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) January 29, 2018
Benn won the fight by a 6 round points decision, but he was knocked down 2 times by the 31-year-old Peynaud in round 1. Benn did come back to knock Peynaud twice in the fight in dropping him in the 5th and 6th round to get the win, but it was still a very poor performance from him. Benn won the fight by a 57-54 score, but his face looked like he’d been in a train wreck afterwards.
Both of Conor’s eyes were badly swollen from the shots he’d eaten. Conor’s promoter Eddie Hearn has to be more than a little concerned with the development of the young 21-year-old, as he can’t continue to take beatings like that if he wants to progress. Benn is too primitive with his fighting style right now for him to go far in the sport of boxing. Conor needs to be less like his famous dad and more like a pure boxer like Joe Calzaghe.
The only reason Benn was able to come on to win the fight was because Peynaud gassed out. But even when Peynaud was tired, he was still landing hard shots to the head of Benn that was catching him cleanly. If Peynaud had any punching power to speak of, he would have knocked Benn out for sure. That fight showed more than anything that Benn is going to need many years of developing at the pro level before he’s ready to take a step up against 1st tier opposition.
This sport is tougher than I thought. Bloody hell. Love to my supporters! See you next year! pic.twitter.com/9B5huTtDEp
— Conor Nigel Benn (@ConorNigel) December 14, 2017
Without a long amateur career, Benn is learning on the job at the pro levels, and finding out the hard way what works and what doesn’t work. One problem that Benn has is he tries to slug too much like his famous father Nigel Benn. Conor didn’t have the amateur career that Nigel had, and he’s not as fast and as talented as him physically. Conor wasn’t blessed with the same physical tools that Nigel possessed. It’s the same with Chris Eubank Jr. He’s not as good as his dad physically, and he’s not shown the same kind of talent in the pro ranks.
For his safety, Benn shouldn’t be put in with any upper tier welterweights until he starts showing some improvement. When that’ll be is unknown. Right now, Benn looks like a knockout waiting to happen.