Barry Hearn calls Conor Benn “magnetic dynamite,” expects him to go far

By Boxing News - 04/18/2022 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: Promoter Barry Hearn is convinced Conor Benn is destined for stardom following his second-round knockout win last Saturday night over Chris Van Heerden at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Calling him the equivalent of “magnetic dynamite,” Barry believes the undefeated welterweight contender Benn (21-0, 14 KOs), the son of British legend Nigel Benn, has the talent to go far in the sport.

Despite it being a mismatch, Benn’s performance against Van Heerden showed that he’s not in the same league as Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr., or Terence Crawford.

With that said, Eddie Hearn isn’t going to let Conor anywhere near those talents because if he were to put him in with any of those guys, the jig is up.

There are still doubts about what the young 25-year-old Benn is capable of accomplishing, as he’s yet to cut his teeth on world-class opposition.

Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn has been ultra-careful to match Conor exclusively against faded older fighters that are nowhere near world-class at this late stage in their careers.

In the case of 34-year-old Chris Van Heerden, he’d never risen past the bottom fringe level during his career, and sadly, he hasn’t won a fight in three years since 2019.

To say this was another cherry-pick for the young Conor Benn is being kind.

There’s disguising that this was another mismatch for Benn, designed to make him look like gold at the expense of a faded shopworn fighter who was coming off a two-year layoff and a dreadfully bad performance against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s one, two, or twelve, the kid has got electricity,” said Barry Hearn to iFL TV about Conor Benn. “He walks into the arena, and you know when you’ve got a superstar in your hands, you don’t need to say anything about it.

“Easy work for one of the best welterweights in the world, and we’ll see how far he goes over the next six to twelve months,” Hearn continued about Conor Benn.

“But we’ve got something special and exciting on our hands, which the whole of the British boxing public is going to warm to.

“This kid is magnetic dynamite that when he walks into an arena, he turns the main lights on himself without switching a switch. Nothing else,” said an excitable Barry about Benn.

“You don’t need to ask me. It’s in the hands of those who know best. All I’m doing is I’m so happy to get a free ticket for one of the career-best performances, and a kid that is going to give up so much excitement,” Hearn said when asked WHO Benn will be fighting in the summer in the much talked about “mega-fight”  in the UK.

“All I want is the excitement. Easy night’s work, easy night,” said Barry in sounding over the moon about Benn’s win over 34-year-old Chris Van Heerden, a fighter that hadn’t won a fight in three years since 2019.

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