Ryan Garcia needed four minutes and 25 seconds to end the biggest fight of Conor Benn’s career.
Garcia stopped Benn by TKO at 1:25 of the second round Saturday at a sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, retaining his WBC welterweight title in his first defense. Referee Thomas Taylor waved it off.
The 27-year-old Californian improves to 26-2 with the 21st knockout of his career. He won the belt from Mario Barrios in February.
Benn, 29, the son of former champion Nigel Benn, came in at 25-1 with 14 knockouts. The rivalry had been building for years. It lasted two rounds.
Dana White is all in on Garcia
“He’s one of the best in the world,” White said afterward. “He did everything he said he was going to do. He’s got knockout power, he’s a good-looking kid, he speaks well, and he ducks nobody. This kid wants to fight everybody, and that’s what any fight fan likes.”
Garcia used the post-fight microphone the way you are supposed to. He called out Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney, both of whom were sitting at ringside.
Either fight is among the biggest available in the sport. Haney beat Garcia on the scorecards in 2024 before that result was overturned to a no contest, so there is a genuine score to settle there.
White on Benn’s future: “The kid goes home, enjoys some time with his family, relax, enjoy the success that he’s had this year, and when he’s ready to fight again, he calls us, and we’ll put something together. He will fight again, and it’s just one of those nights. Ryan Garcia is that good.”
Opetaia stopped a man nobody had ever stopped
The co-main might have been the better fight.
Jai Opetaia stopped Noel Mikaelian at 1:30 of the ninth round, the first stoppage of Mikaelian’s career. The unbeaten cruiserweight moves to 31-0 with 24 knockouts. Referee Harvey Dock called it off.
It was not easy. Opetaia was hurt by a short right cross in the seventh and had to recover before taking over.
He then called out David Benavidez, who climbed through the ropes and verbally accepted. A Zuffa Boxing social post teased the matchup with “See y’all next Cinco de Mayo.”
White sounded optimistic about actually making it: “Benavidez is somebody that we’re very interested in. Jai is interested. Benavidez is interested. So that’s most of the battle, right there.”
The card and the business
Announced live gate: $8,030,075.85. Attendance: 18,855, sold out.
Undercard results included Andres Cortes over Mark Magsayo by unanimous decision to move to 26-0, a first-round knockout from 21-year-old Da’Mazion Vanhouter, Alexis Rocha over Jose Ramirez by unanimous decision, and a majority decision win for Sean Garcia, Ryan’s younger brother.
White spent part of the press conference defending Zuffa Boxing’s model, about nine months and 11 cards into the experiment.
“Boxing comes in like a going out of business sale, and grabs as much money as they can from everybody, and doesn’t give a damn if anybody else makes money off the event, and that’s just not how we operate,” he said. “We want everybody to win: the network, the sponsors, the fighters, the venues.”
Garcia is now the face of that operation. Two rounds on a sold-out Vegas night will do that.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.