By Charles Brun: Untested highly ranked welterweight contender Conor Benn is 100% focused on his scheduled 10 round fight this Saturday, September 4th fight against journeyman Adrian Granados on the Mauricio Lara vs. Josh Warrington card at the Headingley Rugby League Stadium in Leeds.
In what would seem a tad bit unusual, Benn, 24, doesn’t want to discuss the idea of potential future fights out there for him against faded veterans Amir Khan and Kell Brook.
Benn is keeping his attention solely on the task at hand against the 32-year-old ‘El Tigre’ Granados (21-8-3, 15 KOs) for their rescheduled fight.
Last month, Benn had been scheduled to fight Granados on July 31st at the Matchroom HQ in Brentwood, Essex, UK, but a nasty bit of COVID-19 came up for Conor at the last minute, which spoiled his and promoter Eddie Hearn’s plans for that fight date.
Benn had the fight rescheduled rather than use the positive Covid-19 test to walk away from the fight with Granados. He will now be fighting the American this Saturday, assuming nothing else comes along to wipe out the fight again.
Will Conor follow in Nigel Benn’s footsteps?
Benn is the son of former two-division world champion Nigel Benn, but he hasn’t shown the same talent as the ‘Dark Destroyer.’ Nigel was faster, stronger, and bigger than Conor, and obviously more talented.
Whether Conor can one time develop the ability of his famous father Nigel is unclear. But obviously, Benn will never be as fast, powerful, or as large as Nigel.
At this point, it doesn’t appear likely that Conor will ever develop into a talent like Nigel Benn, as the two appear to be cut from a separate piece of cloth. Nigel looked different inside the ring and was always an incredible talent.
I mean, you would have never seen Nigel getting batted around the ring by a fighter like Cedrick Peynaud the way Conor was.
That’s something that won’t change no matter how hard Conor works to improves as a fighter. Nigel was extraordinary from day one, and he didn’t need to be mollycoddled to keep from losing the way some feel that Hearn has done with young Conor.
Interestingly, the young Conor Benn is making good money without even having to fight quality opposition, which some fans feel puts him in the same category as a Jake Paul.
In other words, Conor having the last name ‘Benn’ has made it possible for him to make good money right out of the gate without needing to fight risky opposition the way that his famous father Nigel did to make his fortune.
Nigel Benn’s best opposition:
- Gerald McClellan
- Michael Watson
- Steve Collins
- Chris Eubank Sr.
- Iran Barkley
- Doug DeWitt
- Thulani Malinga
What’s Conor Benn’s goal for his career?
If Conor wants to match the kinds of accomplishments that his father Nigel did, he will need to stop fighting journeymen soon. Conor can’t use up his best years fighting guys like Granados, Samuel Vargas, and Sebastian Formella if he wants to make big waves like his famous father Nigel did.
Of course, that would be assuming that Conor’s goal for his pro boxing career is to be great and not to be a guy that is carefully matched against weak opposition to make easy money.
As we see with YouTuber Jake Paul, you don’t need to fight good opposition to make huge money.
Right now, it isn’t easy to view Conor Benn as a fighter that will one day win a world title at 147, as he hasn’t shown the talent for him to beat guys like Terence Crawford, Vergil Ortiz Jr., Jaron Ennis, Errol Spence Jr, Keith Thurman, David Avanesyan or Shawn Porter.
At best, Benn will have a good career making money in the UK the way that Jake Paul is making huge dough for his mismatches.
Benn will likely be a career-long contender at 147 but won’t capture a world title unless it’s one of those situations where a belt becomes vacant, and he’s matched up against a fighter that has no business fighting for a world title.