Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has offered Maurice ‘Mighty Mo’ Hooker to face his popular British welterweight Conor Benn in April in a headliner on DAZN.
Hooker (27-2-3, 18 KOs) is Hearn’s backup option after failing to get Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner and Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero to fight with the unbeaten Benn (20-0, 13 KOs).
Hearn is still holding out hope that Broner will choose to take the fight with Benn in April, but as of now, it’s not looking likely. Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) wants a warmup fight first before facing Benn.
Hearn might be able to convince Broner to take the fight if he makes him a big enough offer, but we’ll see. He wants to get Benn’s next fight wrapped up by the end of the month.
Hearn says Hooker and Broner are better options for Benn than David Avanesyan because they’re better known in the U.S, and it’ll generate more interest.
The British promoter Hearn wants to continue to build the 25-year-old Benn, slowly matching him up against older former world champions and veterans before he puts him in a world title shot situation.
Hearn says he’s not interested in matching Benn against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis or Vergil Ortiz Jr. because he needs more development before facing those guys.
He does feel that Benn will be ready to beat both of those fighters soon. That might be hard for Benn to do if Hearn continues to match him against faded fighters instead of relevant contenders.
Benn’s recent opponents: Chris Algieri, Adrian Granados, Samuel Vargas and Sebastian Formella.
Hooker offered Benn fight
“I love to Maurice Hooker fight. I’ve made an offer to Maurice Hooker,” said Hearn to iFL TV on him offering the struggling 32-year-old Hooker the fight against Conor Benn in April.
“He [Hooker] was talking about going back down to 140, which would be mental,” Hearn continued about ‘Mighty Mo’ Hooker. “Yeah, he could never make 140 and would have to move up.
“Talks are ongoing with him. I don’t think it’ll be Robert Guerrero [for Conor Benn]. I guess because he’s 38, but he just beat Victor Ortiz, and he’s been around for a long time,” said Hearn in reacting to the criticism Benn has gotten from boxing fans about ‘the shopworn The Ghost’ Guerrero being one of his potential opponents for his April fight.
Part of the strategy behind Hearn matching Benn against Hooker is that it gives boxing fans a chance to compare his performance to Vergil Ortiz Jr, who recently stopped the Texas native ‘Mighty Mo’ in the seventh round in 2021.
If Benn can stop Hooker more quickly than Ortiz Jr did, it’ll give him the ability to brag that he stopped him faster.
Benn has gotten a lot of mileage recently by boasting about knocking out 37-year-old Chris Algieri and Samuel Vargas faster than Errol Spence Jr. did. However, Spence fought Vargas and Algieri many years ago when they were still near their careers’ primes.
Benn fought those two fighters when they’d been around for a long time and was on the downside of their careers.
Hearn still wants Adrien Broner for Conor
“I think the Maurice Hooker fight is the better fight; it’s the tougher fight than the Guerrero fight. Like I said, April is the target date for Conor Benn, so I’ll be looking to nail that opponent by the end of the month.
“I still love the Adrien Broner fight,” said Hearn when asked what would be the Plan-B for Conor Benn if he can’t get Maurice Hooker. “He wants a warmup fight, Adrien Broner, but I just don’t know who’s going to give him a warmup fight. So we’ll see.
“There’s a lot of talks still progressing with him and a couple of other people in the mix, but I would love to make the Maurice Hooker fight,” said Hearn on who his #1 choice is now for Benn if he can’t persuade Broner to take it.
That will be quite a feat for Hearn if he can bag Broner for Conor Benn to fight in April. It’s not that Broner has anything left in the tank at this point in his career, but a match between him and Benn would make a lot of noise worldwide and give Conor publicity. That’s what Hearn wants.
The fight won’t improve Benn in any way or increase the chances of him beating world champions Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr, but it will increase Conor’s popularity superficially. It’s the lazy way for a fighter to become famous.
The ideal method to increase Conor Benn’s popularity would be for Hearn to match him against quality fighters that are still relevant and not over the hill. Hearn hasn’t shown interest in taking that approach, unfortunately.
The fighters Benn SHOULD be facing to build his popularity:
- Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
- David Avanesyan
- Danny Garcia
- Keith Thurman
- Vergil Ortiz Jr
- Eimantas Stanionis
- Josh Taylor
- Regis Prograis
- Tim Tszyu
