By Barry Holbrook: Conor Benn says Kell Brook has “outpriced himself” and he’s giving up on the idea of facing the former IBF welterweight champion next.
For Benn to be giving up so quickly on talks for the mega-fight with Brook, it’s a red flag that he doesn’t want that smoke.
With Benn’s complete lack of experience against first-tier opposition, it would have been a REALLY bad idea for him to mix it with a fighter of Brook’s class because he doesn’t possess the pedigree to be facing this kind of fighter.
Without any real amateur experience and a pro resume filled with older, weaker, and smaller fighters, Benn isn’t ready for a fighter of Kell Brook’s caliber. Benn is arguably years away from facing someone like Brook, and he might not ever get to that level.
If so, you can’t blame Benn (20-0, 13 KOs) for not wanting to mix it up with Kell, as he looked in prime form in his recent sixth round demolition job on Amir Khan on February 19th in Manchester.
The version of Brook we saw against Khan was the same fighter that beat Shawn Porter with ease and gave Errol Spence and Gennady Golovkin huge problems despite battling with an eye injury.
Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn had sounded hopeful on Thursday of putting a fight together between the young 25-year-old Conor and the Brook (40-3, 28 KOs) for June or October.
“[He] outpriced himself, so we move,” said Conor Benn on Instagram about the Kell Brook fight.
Hearn had said they would be willing to scrap Benn’s April 16th fight and go straight into a June clash with Brook, 35, if they could get a fast agreement.
If Hearn can’t resurrect a deal for the Benn vs. Brook fight, Conor will be returning to the ring next month to take on 34-year-old Chris van Heerden on April 16th.
The South African van Heerden (28-2-1, 12 KOs) last fought in December 2020 against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in a fight that was stopped after one round and ruled a no-contest due to a cut that Chris suffered from a clash of heads.
Needless to say, van Heerden did NOT look good against Boots Ennis in that fight and was getting heavily shelled for the entire round before the match was halted. The contest wasn’t remotely competitive, which is why it seems odd that van Heerden has been selected by Hearn to fight Benn.
“I’ve been talking to Kell Brook and his dad,” Eddie Hearn said to iFL TV on Thursday about the Benn fight. “I won’t go into it too much, but we’ve made them a significant offer to fight Conor Benn.
“I think with Kell if he fights again, he should and would do it sooner rather than later.
“Once he starts enjoying himself and relaxing and the weight goes back on, it becomes more of a mission,” said Hearn.
Benn is bringing in good money for his fights on Matchroom Boxing’s cards, and it would be a shame for him to mess that up by taking on a seasoned fighter like Brook.
Kell has been a boxer all his life, and he would have too many skills for a fighter like Benn. You got to give Hearn respect for being willing to try and make this fight.
The way that Benn has been brought along since turning pro, it suggests to some fans that he’s being carefully built for a cash-out, and will never fight anyone good until he gets that big payday fight.
Obviously, Benn will be hopelessly overmatched when he does eventually get in with one of the welterweight world champions, but he’ll make a lot of money and can retire afterward or rinse & repeat.
