By Scott Gilfoid: Conor Benn says he was ready to jump inside the ring last Saturday night and call out Kell Brook immediately after he stopped Amir Khan in the sixth round at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
The 25-year-old Benn, who has been focusing on beating older fighters, held himself back from taking the spotlight away from Brook (40-3, 28 KOs) in his moment of glory.
To be sure, Benn would have been completely out of place inside the ring, calling out Brook in his long-awaited moment of glory after stopping Khan (34-6, 21 KOs) last Saturday night.
Conor Benn wants Kell Brook
“I just said that I want that fight. I wanted to jump in the ring right there and say, ‘Listen, Kell, what are you saying, mate. Do you fancy it?'” said Conor Benn to Secondsout last Saturday night about how he wanted to call out Kell Brook immediately after his fight with Khan.
“He’s still got it all, he still has got it all there still,” said Conor in talking about 35-year-old Brook.
“So, therefore, it makes the fight more appealing to me because I want to challenge myself against the better man and the best version of that man,” Benn continued.
Hopefully, we don’t see Benn emerging to call out IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin after his April fight against Ryota Murata, as that would be entirely absurd.
It’s unclear whether Benn is being instructed to call out fighters immediately after they win an important fight to get some cheap publicity.
After Chris Eubank Jr’s recent win over Liam Williams on February 5th, Benn came out of the woodwork to call him out.
Benn says he wants to fight the 35-year-old former IBF welterweight champion Brook next, and he fancies his chances of beating him.
“I think I have the power there, the accuracy, timing, and the speed and the ferocity and the youth,” Conor said when asked why he believes he can beat Kell.
“They’ve achieved things I want to achieve in the sport of boxing, so it’s only coming from a respect perspective,” said Benn on why he’s calling out Brook.
Boxing fans are getting tired of seeing Conor calling out older fighters because they want to see him step it up against relevant guys like David Avanesyan, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Some fans believe Benn is afraid of Avanesyan, and that’s why he’s concentrating on fighting strictly older, past their prime fighters.
Benn’s next fight is expected to be against 34-year-old Chris van Heerden, a fighter that hasn’t fought in two years.
This is another poor choice of opponent for Benn, as van Heerden resembled a punching bag in his last fight against Boots Ennis. Van Heerden was worked over something awful by Boots before the fight was halted due to a clash of heads.
Amir Khan looked like a shell of his former self
“Khan was a fraction of the man that he once was,” Conor said about his thoughts on the Khan-Brook fight. “Brook looked unbelievable. His timing, accuracy, and speed were still there, and his power.
“He took his time and done what needed to be done. He knew what needed to be done. He looked evil in there tonight. The second round before I realized he has his time, he has his number,” said Benn when asked how long it took him to realize it was Kell’s night.
“When he realized he could have him hurt, I thought, ‘Yeah, he’s in for it now.’ Most definitely,” Benn said when asked if he agreed with the Khan-Brook fight being stopped in the sixth round. “Listen, sooner rather than later.
“You’d rather than any day of the week rather than it being called too late. You’d rather the ref calling it early. You’d rather it sooner. It was a one-sided beating, and that’s what it was,” said Benn.
