Ryan Garcia, having 'nice relaxing time', fails to show for face-off with Conor Benn

Ryan Garcia failed to show for an arranged ‘face-off’ with Conor Benn on Tuesday, four days before the pair are due to do battle for Garcia’s WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas.

It’s the latest silly occurrence in a long line of them.

The first might have been the making of the fight itself. Benn, though No. 1 with the WBC at 147lbs, hasn’t competed in the weight class since April 2022.

Consequently, the last fortnight has seen speculation mount that the British challenger, who scored his finest win up at middleweight over Chris Eubank Jnr last November, is certain to be weight-drained by the time the pair weigh in on Friday.

That conjecture only increased when Benn posted footage of himself, post-training session, looking almost impossibly svelte last week.

Garcia, who almost came to blows with Benn when the pair went nose-to-nose at a launch event in July, has taken the suggestion that Benn is going to be a spent force due to that weight cut and run with it.

“Nice relaxing time as Conor wastes time showing up to a face-off,” Garcia said about his no-show.

“Back to the sauna you go, sausage getting cooked in every way.”

Benn, looking healthier than he had after a strenuous training session, kept his cool.

"Saturday can't come soon enough," he said. 

"I apologise for Ryan [Garcia] doing what Ryan does and bottling it. We turn up, we're here, ready for the face-off.

"He needs to get his shit together because come Saturday, he's in for a real, real shock."

Garcia, 25-2 (20 KOs), won the belt in February when he outpointed Mario Barrios over 12 rounds. Two months later, while weighing 149.5lbs, the 25-1 (14 KOs) Benn outpointed Regis Prograis over 10 rounds in his first bout since two fights at middleweight against Eubank Jnr.