Eddie Hearn already has his eyes on Adrien Broner or Kell Brook as Conor Benn’s summer mega-fight in the UK after he takes care of his last learning fight against Chris Van Heerden this Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
After six years of matching Benn selectively against old-timers, Hearn is taking off his training wheels and ready to let him face one of the killers in the 147-lb division.
Yeah, Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) has a lot of road miles on his odometer, but he’s still young at 32, and more than skilled enough to give the young 25-year-old Conor Benn a run for his money.
Although the Matchroom Boxing head boss Hearn maintains that the southpaw Van Heerden (28-2-1, 12 KOs) will be a “tough test” for Benn (20-0, 13 KOs), his early talk of potential opponents for Conor’s summer fights indicates that he’s not worried in the slightest about Saturdays Benn-Van Heerden fight.
On the top of Hearn’s wishlist for Benn’s summer fight is 35-year-old former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (40-3, 28 KOs)
Hearn eyeing big names for Benn’s summer fight
“I love the Adrien Broner fight because I’ve always wanted to bring him to the UK and I think it will be wild,” said Eddie Hearn to the Daily Mail for Conor Benn’s summer fight.
“Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman – all these elite fights, those fights with Conor Benn are mega-fights,” said Hearn.
Of the names Hearn is mentioning, Broner & Mikey would be the ideal step up for his next fight. It wouldn’t be advisable for Benn to go from fighting 34-year-old Van Heerden to mixing it with the heavy-handed Keith Thurman, Kell Brook, or Danny Garcia.
Benn needs a fight or two under his belt before he faces one of those names because they’re more than capable of battering Conor in the same way that Cedrick Peynaud did in 2017.
Conor was arguably beaten by the Frenchman but lucked out when it came to the scoring of the fight.
The former four-division world champion Broner would be perfect for Benn because he’ll help create a lot of interest, and he’ll give him a lot of different looks.
One big negative that comes from all the soft matchmaking that Hearn has done on Benn’s behalf is the fact that it’s prevented him from dealing with fighters with power, and skills.
We haven’t seen Benn face anyone with power during his career other than second-tier fighter Peynaud, and we don’t know how he’ll deal with fighting someone with pop in their punches. Even Broner will be a massive leap up in the power department for Benn, and that’s worrisome.
“He’s got to get through Van Heerden, though. These last ones are always the most dangerous,” said Hearn. They’re the ones everyone thinks you’re going to win, then you come unstuck.”
“Brook was [a realistic target], he asked for £10million. I couldn’t believe it. We made him the same offer he got to fight Amir Khan,” said Hearn.
