Conor Benn unleashed a storm of punches right off the bat that led the referee to stop his fight against Samuel Vargas in the first round, and he then called out Amir Khan. The fans at the Copper Box Arena in London, England didn’t get a chance to see much, thanks to the fast stoppage.
Poor Vargas (31-7-2, 14 KOs) never stored a chance, as Benn threw everything but the kitchen sink at him, and the referee finally lost patience waiting for Samuel to throw something back and made the obvious move by halting it.
Benn backed Vargas up with shots, and once he got him up against the ropes, he flurried until the referee stopped it.
The referee could have waited another 10 seconds to see if Vargas could have weathered the storm or not before he stopped it, but he wasn’t going to do that.
Fans don’t like to see referees ruining a perfectly good fight with their premature stoppages, but in this case, it was harmless. Vargas wasn’t going to win, that much was evident in the short fight.
He was obviously hand-picked by Benn and his promoter Eddie Hearn to make sure that they got a sure-thing win, so there was never going to be an upset.
Moments after the fight ended, Benn christened himself the best welterweight in Britain and rattled off the following names that he wants for his next fight:
- Amir Khan
- Shawn Porter
- Adrien Broner
Benn wants the 34-year-old former IBF/WBA light Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) next for a big domestic fight that would bring them both a nice payday. However, with the absence of crowds in the UK, it might be too soon for the Benn vs. Khan fight.
It would be better to wait until the pandemic subsides a little and the UK government allows back fans to large sporting events. That probably won’t happen in 2021 unless they see a large drop-off in cases of the citizens coming down with COVID 19.
“Give me Amir Khan,” Benn bellowed after the fight when interviewed by Sky Sports. “If he wants it, he can have it.
“I can deal with pressure. I can cope with it. I can live with it, no problem. I’m ready for the top dogs – Shawn Porter, Adrien Broner?” said Benn.
I speak for everyone when I say, Conor’s moment under the spotlight would have been better used if he’d NOT called out Khan because that’s a waste of breath.
Khan is at the point in his career where he’s hustling fights against opposition that he knows he can beat. He’s not trying to fight young upstarts like Benn or the dangerous champions at 147.
Khan isn’t going to agree to fight Benn, which is why he shouldn’t have wasted his moment under the spotlight.
Benn may not like want to take a real risk, but he needs to show that he’s got the courage in him to call out Vergil Ortiz Jr, Jaron Ennis, David Avanesyan, or Daniyar Yeleussinov.
Those are fighters that would likely agree to fight Benn in a second if he called them out. He isn’t going to get Shawn Porter to fight him, and I don’t think he was serious about wanting him.
Porter is completely out of Benn’s price range, and all he was doing in calling him out was clout-chasing. If Hearn REALLY wants Porter to agree to the fight against Benn, he’ll open up his piggy bank and dig out $3 million or so and give him the money he would ask for, but he’s not going to do that.
Not only is it too much, but Hearn doesn’t want Benn to lose and surely would if he fought Porter. Benn isn’t good enough to beat that kind of fighter.
“The next fight has to be a top 15 in the world,” Hearn said about wanting to match Benn against a top-tier welterweight next time out.
“Benn vs. Khan – a young guy against a guy with a fantastic legacy.
“I want Benn back out as soon as possible. I’d like to see him win the European title. How can you not get excited?”