Henry Garcia makes resolute Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn prediction

The banter surrounding Ryan Garcia’s first WBC welterweight title defense versus England’s Conor Benn September 12 in Las Vegas should be glorious.

Not only is there the charismatic, social-media dynamo Garcia trading barbs with son-of-Hall-of-Famer Benn, respective promoters Oscar De La Hoya and Dana White have built up years of disdain before being united here for a joint cause that could propel so much of their verbal arsenal.

As for the fight itself, however, Garcia’s father-trainer, Henry Garcia, says he expects the dramatics to be a one-sided affair.

“We’re looking for the knockout,” Henry Garcia told BoxingScene of his son, who’s knocked out 20 of 27 opponents. “The guy [Benn] is a warrior, but he doesn’t have the experience people think he has. He probably started later in his career. We don’t see a threat. I thought we had more of a threat with [then-champion Mario] Barrios [in February], if I’m being truthful. Ryan has so many amateur fights. I don’t see anything special [Benn] has, anything we haven’t seen before.

“It’s why I feel confident in saying it’s not going 12 rounds. I usually don’t say knockout. I apologize for coming out that strong. But I do know it’s not going 12, and we are looking to end this sooner.”

Paramount+ is streaming the fight in the U.S. with DAZN offering the bout worldwide from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where Garcia immediately knocked down Barrios in the first round and went on to victory by unanimous decision.

Son of recent Canastota inductee Nigel Benn, the 25-1 (14 KOs) Conor Benn was elevated to No. 1 WBC contender after avenging his lone defeat [in the 2025 fight of the year] to Chris Eubank Jnr at middleweight, and then moving down to post an uninspiring April victory on the scorecards over former 140lbs champion Regis Prograis in his Zuffa Boxing debut.

Henry Garcia said he has studied Benn since the bout was mentioned earlier this year.

Negotiations lagged amid the hostility between the promotions – Garcia’s Golden Boy Promotions and Benn-backed Zuffa Boxing headed by UFC CEO/President White – and a planned Friday news conference in Las Vegas was moved to this week in New York as final contractual details were hammered out.

“Again, I don’t see anything special that he can surprise us with,” said Henry Garcia, with his son positioned as a -325 betting favorite with Benn standing as a +260 underdog. “[Benn] likes to come forward. That’s something we look forward to. We’ll be ready for it.”

The matchup, Henry Garcia, is ideal for Ryan Garcia given where the popular Southern Californian is positioned in his career, now inheriting the popular Mexican Independence weekend card that used to be the domain of Canelo Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather Jnr and De La Hoya.

Winning convincingly would further Ryan Garcia’s course toward fuller mainstream popularity given that he already boasts nearly 13 million Instagram followers.

“That’s our goal. From what I see right now – and we worked out [Tuesday] – if he fought Conor Benn right now, it would easily be a knockout,” said Henry Garcia.

The Garcias expect “all the fireworks” at the opening news conference.

“It should be amazing. I’m looking forward to it,” the elder Garcia said.

What De La Hoya and White talk about, “that’s up to them,” Garcia said. “My job is to get Ryan a win, to defend his title.”

On this upcoming card, Garcia’s other son, lightweight Sean Garcia, will also fight. 

Henry Garcia trained Ryan through the amateurs and early portion of his pro career before turning to Eddy Reynoso, Joe Goossen and Derrick James. They reunited for the Barrios victory.

“Anyone who likes to come forward and be a bully and all that, that falls right into our plans. We love to see stuff like that,” Garcia said.

That favorable style matchup coincides with Ryan Garcia’s personal development, his father said. After two prior title losses, and then missing weight and testing positive for a banned substance after knocking down three-division champion Devin Haney three times to win a 2024 bout that was converted to a no-contest, Ryan Garcia has won the title and shown the magnitude of his celebrity by first announcing he would fight Benn on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

“I see the change, the maturity of Ryan,” Henry Garcia said. “It’s something I waited for, and I saw it with Barrios. Now that we’re moving forward, I see it even more. My confidence in his confidence has grown to a place where we’re to take on all of this, so seriously.

“And it’s going to be seen on September 12.”