Carl Froch issues Conor Benn warning on crucial mistake that could cost him against Ryan Garcia
Carl Froch has said he cannot picture Conor Benn beating Ryan Garcia on Saturday, when the Briton challenges for the WBC welterweight title.
Benn, 29, will box Garcia, 27, at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena, marking the “Destroyer”’s first time competing for a world title. And Benn will do so at a weight where he has not fought in two-and-a-half years.
He has boxed three times since February 2024, trading wins with Chris Eubank Jr at middleweight in 2025, and beating Regis Prograis at a 150lb catchweight in April.
All three fights went the distance, with Benn failing to secure a knockout since 2022, when he failed two drug tests and was handed a provisional suspension. Benn’s suspension was lifted in 2024, and he maintained his innocence throughout the saga.
Froch believes a stern test awaits Benn against Garcia, with the former world champion suggesting that Benn has looked drained in recent weeks, seemingly having begun to cut weight well in advance of the fight.
“I don’t know how Conor beats him at this weight, at 147lb,” Froch told The Sun, “because he didn’t look like a big puncher at 150lb, 154lb, whatever. Now he’s down at 147lb, he looks like a boiled chicken.
“He looks like Gollum – you know, all drained and scrawny, like he’s gonna snap. And he’s gonna go in there with Ryan Garcia, who’s really lightning fast, good counter-puncher, can punch like f***. I mean, he’s gonna hurt [Benn].
“Hopefully Conor Benn took the weight off, he’s had a session […] down at that weight, but it can be dangerous. If he’s dehydrated and took that fluid off his brain – that synovial fluid and all that – it could be dangerous.
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“He’s not punching hard, I don’t think, down below 160lb. And his punch resistance… we’re gonna find out, because [Garcia] will clip him with a hook on the way in.
“He’ll leap in, Conor will, leave his feet behind – because he’ll be all eager – and he’ll walk onto a hook. If he can take that, he’s got a chance in the fight, but if he starts wobbling early doors, he won’t get past four rounds.”
Garcia is known for his counter left hook, which has played a key role in his journey to becoming a world champion. Still, it has been an unusual journey.
Despite dropping Devin Haney three times in a points win in 2024, he failed to win the WBC super-lightweight title, having missed weight before the fight. Then the result was overturned to a no-contest, when it was revealed that Garcia had failed a drug test. He was also handed a one-year ban.
Garcia maintained his innocence and returned to fight Rolly Romero for the WBA lightweight belt, but he was dropped early and lost on points. After remarkably being handed a lightweight-title fight in his next outing, Garcia dropped and outpointed Mario Barrios to win the WBC belt in February.
