Conor Benn isn’t ready for David Avanesyan – says Carl Greaves

By Boxing News - 09/05/2021 - Comments

By Allan Fox: EBU welterweight champion David Avanesyan’s manager Carl Greaves says Conor Benn isn’t ready for him after watching his performance last Saturday night against the trial-horse Adrian ‘El Tigre’ Granados at the Headingley Stadium in Leeds, England.

Greaves noted that the unbeaten #12 WBA, #13 IBF Benn (19-0, 14 KOs) was “reckless” and not focusing enough on his defense in 10 round unanimous decision over the 32-year-old journeyman Granados (21-9-3, 15 KOs).

To his credit, Benn, 24, won the fight by these wide scores: 100-90, 99-91, and 97-93. But he looked wild and technically unsound. Granados showed by far superior skills than Benn, and he exposed his inability to cut off the ring.

It should have been an easy thing for Benn to do in cutting off the ring on Granados, but he couldn’t. He lacked the ability to predict.

Benn needs a lot of development

In the end, Benn looked a million light-years away from the talent that his famous father Nigel Benn possessed when he was 24-years-old. Conor is never going to be as talented physically as his dad Nigel.

In other words, Conor’s not going to suddenly become as fast, powerful, or grow to be the same size as Nigel. But you’d like to hope that the young Benn could become as technically proficient as Nigel one day, but he’s so far away that it’s too much to hope.

Nigel wasn’t afraid to take tough challenges, and unfortunately, we haven’t seen the same from Conor.

Image: Conor Benn isn't ready for David Avanesyan - says Carl Greaves

During his career, Nigel was excellent at cutting off the ring on movers. Against a guy like Granados, Nigel would have trapped him early and taken him out with his huge power shots.

Benn couldn’t do that last night because he didn’t look like he’d been trained right to deal with a mover like Granados.

“Yeah, I wasn’t impressed. I think struggles with movers,” said David Avanesyan’s manager Carl Greaves to Boxing Social on Conor Benn’s performance last Saturday. “Granados never came to win. He never came to fight, and he was a bit negative on the back foot.

“And he [Granados]  had his successes. He was catching Conor coming in. I mean, Conor was reckless, didn’t think about his defense. He’s obviously going out looking for the big shots.

“When he was throwing out with that much power at one time, he threw a left hook, he [Benn] did a 360-degree spin. He got the job done. On the scorecards, he won every round.

“Granados had success, like I said. That just showed that Conor isn’t ready for the likes of David Avanesyan. You can understand now after watching that why they’re [Matchroom Boxing]  avoiding David [Avanesyan].”

What we’ll likely see Matchroom Boxing do is wait until Avanesyan has aged before they finally let Benn fight him.  Avanesyan is currently 33, so Matchroom will likely wait until he’s 36 or 37 before they eventually let Benn fight him.

If Avanesyan starts showing signs of age in the next couple of years, Matchroom will make the fight between him and Benn.

I mean, it would still be a dangerous fight for Benn because even when Avanesyan is nearing his 40s, his power will still be there.

Look at Gennadiy Golovkin. He’s 39, but still incredibly powerful and dangerous enough for Canelo Alvarez to want no part of fighting him again, even though he’d make more money than he’s been making against the 168-lb belt-holders than he’s been fighting since 2018.

Greaves: Benn isn’t ready for the elite

“I don’t blame them. I mean, they’re obviously doing a good job with Conor,” said Greaves on him not blaming Matchroom for steering Benn around Avanesyan.

Image: Conor Benn isn't ready for David Avanesyan - says Carl Greaves

“They’re matching him right, getting the right fights at the right time. They’re getting these big names [Samuel Vargas and Granados] that have been in with champions over the years.

“Obviously, it looks good on Conor’s resume, but I don’t think he’s ready for the elite. He’s nowhere near. Last night’s performance proved that.

“It depends on how David approached it,” said Greaves when asked how Avanesyan would fight Benn. “It proved last night that Conor struggles with movers.

“He could outbox Conor pretty easy, but David wouldn’t do that. David was here watching the fight last night. He knows Conor is no match for him.

“He wouldn’t underestimate him, but I think he’d be an easier job than Liam Taylor fight because Conor would be there to be hit. The way that David is performing at the minute, you can understand why they’re avoiding him,” said Greaves.

It’s interesting that will all the bold talk that Benn does, he wants no part of fighting Avanesyan. What does that mean? When a fighter’s actions doing match their words, it shows there’s a disconnect.

Benn seems to be mindlessly parroting the tough talk that he’s seen from other fighters, but he’s not willing to back it up inside the ring with Avanesyan and guys like Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron Ennis.

Avanesyan (27-3-1, 15 KOs) will be defending his EBU welterweight title next month against Liam Taylor (23-1-1, 11 KOs) on October 2nd at the Wembley Arena in London, England.

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