Eddie Hearn announced today that Conor Benn has tested positive for COVID-19 and he’s off Saturday’s Matchroom Fight Camp card on DAZN. Benn (18-0, 12 KOs) had been scheduled to fight the capable Adrian Granados (21-8-3, 15 KOs) in a 12-rounder, but that fight is now off.
The co-feature bout between WBA secondary featherweight champion Can Xu and Leigh Wood has now been moved up to the main event on Saturday’s Fight Camp card. This fight would have likely stolen the show anyway, as Xu (18-2, 3 KOs) is one of the most exciting fighters in the 126-lb division.
Eddie didn’t elaborate whether Benn, the main event fighter, had been vaccinated. It’s obviously something that promoters need to keep an eye on when dealing with headliner fighters.
Hearn added that Benn, 24, will be fighting Granados at a later date. With Benn off the card, there might be more than a few boxing fans asking for refunds.
There are some entertaining fights on the card like the aforementioned Xu vs. Wood.
Saturday’s Fight Camp card:
- Can Xu vs. Leigh Wood
- Tommy McCarthy vs. Chris Billiam-Smith
- Avni Yildirim vs. Jack Cullen
- Anthony Fowler vs. Rico Mueller
- Campbell Hatton vs. Jakub Laskowski
- Sandy Ryan vs. Kirstie Bavington
The Xu Can vs. Leigh Wood world title fight will now headline Fight Camp 1.
Moving forward, it would be an excellent idea for Hearn to make sure that ALL fighters on his Matchroom Boxing card are vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus.
If some of them are anti-vaxxers, Hearn should leave them off cards until they change their minds about not wanting to be vaccinated. I’m just saying.
What’s the point in Hearn going through all this trouble to put fights together if fighters are going to be testing positive left and right, spoiling the cards.
For Benn’s sake, he needs to get back in the ring soon because he’s so much work to do before he’s ready to cut his teeth against true world-class opposition.
Recently, Benn made a big deal about his premature first round stoppage of journeyman Samuel Vargas, bragging that he knocked him out faster than Errol Spence Jr, Danny Garcia, and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
It appears that the point of all this talk from Benn was for the boxing fans to connect the dots, and put him above Spence, Garcia, and Ortiz Jr in the talent department.
Instead of recognizing that the fight was halted prematurely by the referee Michael Alexander, Benn saw it as a true knockout, which it wasn’t.
For Benn to join the ranks of the talented fighters at 147, he’s got to face better opposition already, and he needs to make sure the referees aren’t prematurely stopping his fights because he’s going to be in for a shock when he faces someone that he can’t score a quick knockout against. Even Granados might have been a problem for Benn.