Should Conor Benn get his way in 2026, and land the fight he really wants, we will know then that all is forgiven – and forgotten.
The same can also be said for Ryan Garcia.
That is the man Benn hopes to fight at some point this year and, in many ways, they are made for each other, Benn and Garcia. Both, after all, have in the past fallen foul of drug-testers – Benn with two positive tests for clomiphene in 2022, and Garcia with a positive test for ostarine in 2024 – and both have been on a mission to clear their names and redeem themselves ever since.
For Garcia, 24-2 (20 KOs), that meant fighting Rolly Romero in Times Square last May, which was a fight he lost. However, so great is the Californian’s star power these days, his path to redemption continues in spite of that defeat, with the announcement yesterday of a WBC welterweight title shot against Mario Barrios in Las Vegas on February 21.
As for Benn, 24-1 (14 KOs), he has fought four times since testing positive (three wins, one defeat) and last time out secured a revenge victory, by decision, over British rival Chris Eubank Jnr at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. That result, and performance, led to many expressing a willingness to draw a line in the sand and allow Benn, a changed man, to move on with his career and prosper. It also put the Londoner in line for a shot at the same WBC title Garcia and Barrios are set to contest next month.
“I said I’d be WBC world champion. It was always the dream,” Benn told Sky Sports on Tuesday. “To be in touching distance of and made mandatory [challenger] for the WBC world title... I’ll be there ringside and I want the winner. No doubt it’s Garcia, so Garcia-Benn, I like the sound of that.”
As will many in boxing, regardless of the controversy surrounding the two welterweights involved. It is, despite their baggage, one of the more lucrative fights to make in 2026 and would act as further proof that sometimes controversy serves only to enhance the profile and mystique of a particular fighter. That is true even when the controversy pertains to a positive performance-enhancing drug test. Often, in fact, there is even more interest in a fighter when we suspect they have been up to good. After all, if any sport likes and knows how to use a bad boy, it’s professional boxing.
For that reason, we can expect Garcia and Benn to be touted as potential opponents for the next few months. Should Garcia beat Barrios in February, as Benn predicts, there will be no stopping them, with Benn, the number one contender, already starting to imagine and visualize it.
“[There was] something great about what Dalton Smith did [beating Subriel Matias in New York to become WBC super-lightweight champion on Saturday],” Benn said when asked whether he wanted to fight Garcia in America or at home in England. “I mean, listen, I’d love to do it in Vegas – I know the T-Mobile Arena is on hold for Cinco de Mayo – but I feel like I’ll bring it here to the UK for the supporters. Another stadium [fight] sounds good, doesn’t it?”
Sixty thousand fans filled a stadium – twice – to watch Benn fight Eubank Jnr last year and there’s no reason to think it would be any different in a WBC title fight against Garcia. Even if Garcia lacks the profile of Eubank Jnr in the UK, he more than makes up for that in controversy and out-of-ring shenanigans. Besides, it’s a good old redemption story, isn’t it? Everybody loves a redemption story.
