Conor Benn could be set for a world title shot against Ryan Garcia, but there is one reigning world champion who claims that the Briton recently pulled out of a shot at his belt, despite ‘the whole deal being set up’.
Benn made his Zuffa Boxing debut earlier this month, outpointing Regis Prograis in a 150lb catchweight bout – his first contest below 154lbs in four years – and now looks poised to challenge for world honours as a welterweight.
Although, whilst his position as the WBC mandatory challenger has lined him up for a clash with Garcia, the WBA champion of the 147lb division, Rolando Romero, has claimed that Benn pulled out of a bid for his title.
Speaking to Fight Hub TV, ‘Rolly’ explained why he doubts whether the Garcia fight will go ahead and revealed that he had been expecting to fight Benn, until ‘The Destroyer’ had a change of heart.
“Conor Benn ducked me, we had the whole deal set up, we were going to fight May 30 in New York for my world title and then he just disappeared out of nowhere.
Conor Benn was over there, begging for the fight with me. We had the whole deal set up, by the way, but he is over there in New York trying to cause all of that commotion and other stuff – he did it for clout. Same thing with this, he might be doing this with Ryan for clout too.
“They are over there trying to make all of this stuff, I don’t do that fake beef. That’s what throws me off, you go and do all of that fake beef and then you come over here, act like a big, tough guy, then you go run off and not fight.
“He might be doing that with Ryan, because Ryan would knock him out cold.”
Garcia and Benn could collide in Las Vegas this summer as Benn returns to the welterweight division in an immediate world title challenge.