Conor Benn has been accused of forgoing any world title aspirations following his shock move from Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing to Dana White’s Zuffa promotion.
It was announced this weekend that ‘The Destroyer’ has ended his working relationship with Matchroom who, until now, had promoted him since his professional debut in 2016.
Not only that, but Hearn had always been a strong ally to Benn, even after he twice tested positive for clomifene ahead of his cancelled encounter with Chris Eubank Jr in 2022.
As a result of that debacle, Benn had two outings in America – against Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson in 2023 and 2024, respectively – before facing Eubank last year.
Their first middleweight encounter saw him suffer a unanimous decision defeat in April, prior to his comprehensive triumph over the weight-restricted Eubank in November.
All the while, Hearn had opted to back his man against a barrage of criticism and abuse, which makes Benn’s move to Zuffa Boxing that much more surprising.
While it is just a one-fight deal with White’s promotional outfit, many have also questioned whether Benn’s desire to win a world title can be fulfilled, given that Zuffa is attempting to marginalise sanctioning body belts.
Someone who has already made up his mind in that regard, it seems, is IBF world super-welterweight champion Josh Kelly, who shared his reaction to Benn’s promotional shift on X.
“Looks like I’ve retired Conor Nigel from the real boxing circle. Off to the circus son, let the real boxers battle it out.”
Benn has repeatedly expressed his desire to claim the WBC welterweight strap, currently held by Ryan Garcia, after he defeated Mario Garcia in dominant fashion on Saturday night.