Ryan Garcia warned that 'consistent' Conor Benn could cause an upset on September 12

Conor Benn is an early 3-to-1 underdog to upset Ryan Garcia when they meet for the latter’s WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas on September 12.

Garcia, currently 1-to-4 on to win, is being warned to take the challenge from the Englishman seriously, however.

The champion, 25-2 (20 KOs), put a difficult period of his life behind him in February when he outpointed Mario Barrios to win the title. Yet there are signs, six weeks out from battle, that Garcia might not be as focused as he should be.

There's tit-for-tat with the retired Terence Crawford, there’s the posting of betting slips for large amounts of money, and the typical fascination with social media. Benn, meanwhile, appears to be locked in on the task at hand as the Englishman, more than four years after he last made 147lbs, cuts a typically determined figure.

Teddy Atlas, who has worked with fighters like Mike Tyson, Shannon Briggs, Timothy Bradley, and Michael Moorer in the past, is concerned that Garcia’s habit of not keeping his emotions in check could work in the 25-1 (14 KOs) Benn’s favor.

“Garcia has always been influenced, maybe more than most fighters, on a mental and emotional basis,” Atlas told CanadaCasino. “He is very talented, but unless he is right mentally and emotionally, that talent doesn’t really equate into anything special.

“It doesn’t get used in a way where it shows itself to mean something. Garcia is probably in a better place now mentally than he had been for a while, but does he stay in that place? That’s the big question with Garcia. He is very mercurial when it comes to his emotions. They move all over the place. As a trainer and as someone who has been in the sport my whole life, that would be my concern.

“At the end of the day, I usually go towards consistency. Garcia fights in spurts. They can be great spurts, don’t get me wrong, but they are spurts. Benn is not as flashy or spectacular in those spurts, but he is more consistent throughout the night with his offence.

“In the mental area, Benn probably gets a little bit of an edge. He seems, good or bad, to be more consistent with his offensive output than Garcia. It’s a tough one to pick, but because of what I just broke down, I might possibly be on the side of Benn.”