Devin Haney took a verbal shot at welterweight Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) after he was forced to go twelve rounds to defeat his little-known opponent Peter Dobson (16-1m 9 KOs) by a decision in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The Shot Hearn on Social Media
When asked by one of the posters on X where Benn’s power went, Haney said, “Left that in the needle.”
Benn said this in response to Haney’s comment during tonight’s post-fight press conference: “He’s easy work.”
Fans on social media noticed the lack of power on the 27-year-old Benn’s shots tonight against Dobson, and they suspect the worst from him because he’s no longer knocking guys out like he had been doing up until 2022.
It wasn’t just that Benn failed to score a stoppage. What was painfully obvious to fans was that Benn’s shots no longer had the same explosiveness that they had been seeing from him during the power stage of his career from 2019 to 2022.
Conor had been an average puncher until 2019, and then he started destroying everyone in site, looking invincible.
Benn won by the scores 119-109, 118-110 and 118-110. Still, with this type of second-tier, non-top 15-ranked welterweight, Benn should have been able to knock him out if he wanted to be seen as one of the talented fighters in the 147-lb division.
Fans Divided: Suspicions and Support
While some boxing fans were supportive of Benn tonight after his fight, saying his power was the same as it had always been, many others felt there was a significant drop off to how Conor had been punching in the past.
They note that Benn couldn’t stop his last opponent either, Rodolfo Orozco, another second-tier fighter, whom he should have been able to destroy if he still possessed his Samson-like power. What happened? Where did it go? Was it the haircut that Benn got that caused his Samson-like strength to evaporate?
Left that shit n the needle.. https://t.co/CpXI4YkrcX
— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) February 3, 2024