Conor Benn doesn’t have the same beef with Ryan Garcia he had with Chris Eubank Jr., but the two aren’t exactly friends, either.
Earlier this week, Zuffa Boxing announced that Benn will challenge Garcia for his WBC lightweight belt on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas. It’s Benn’s first opportunity to fight for a world championship, and things have already gotten heated between the two, with the pair nearly coming to blows at their first press conference. But despite the intensity, Benn says this rivalry is nothing compared to his feud with Chris Eubank Jr.
“A lot less personal,” Benn told MMA Fighting when asked about his feelings on the fight. “A lot less spite involved. I think Ryan is what Ryan is. With Eubank, it was a lot more personal. There was family feud. There was generational family feud. It was the bragging rights of the family name. So, there was a lot more on the line. Whereas this one’s more — I don’t want to lie. I don’t want to hurt the kid. It’s a different feeling. I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want to put him in the hospital. I want to have a good fight and beat him.”
But just because he doesn’t want to hurt Garcia, that doesn’t mean he likes him.
“You’ve got to remember, he wasn’t calling me out before the Eubank fights,” Benn said. “He wasn’t calling me out after the Eubank fights. As soon as the Regis [Prograise] fight was done, ‘Cool, let me call him out. Let’s have the fight now.’ It just goes to show who he is at heart. He ain’t taking this fight for legacy. He ain’t taking this fight for anything other than trying to pick an easy fight in terms of — just pick an easy fight.
“The WBC made me mandatory for this fight. I’d like to see him go up to middleweight.”
That animosity certainly came to the forefront for their first faceoff as the two boxers had to be separated by Dana White. And Benn says if things had gotten physical, he was ready for it.
“Oh, I wanted to punch his head in, for sure,” Benn said about the faceoff. “I wanted to punch his head in. I would have had it there and then with him. I’m not worried about nothing with Ryan. I ain’t scared about nothing. What’s there to be scared about? He’s a spoiled brat and he carries on like a little child, throwing his toys out the pram, having social media tantrums. You think I’m worried about him? I’ve just gone up to middleweight and had Fight of the Year. You think I’m worried about Ryan, a lightweight? Not at all.”
