Conor Benn says he’s “more Mexican” than Ryan Garcia ahead of their championship fight in September

Another great fight is on the horizon with Ryan Garcia defending his WBC welterweight championship against Conor Benn. The great Timothy Bradley said as a guest on Inside the Ring that any match in boxing can be made, and he’s right — it’s about how badly the fighters want it. 

Garcia’s title defense will be at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sept. 12. Both guys have questionable reputations since failing two drug tests four years ago (Benn) and two over two years (Garcia). They still need redemption so observers don’t impeach the credibility of their other wins.

Garcia is a highly talented, quick and powerful pugilist. In his last five fights, he has won two, lost twice against Gervonta Davis and Rolly Romero, and had one no contest versus Devin Haney. Benn is a marauder who has won four of his last five, and was defeated by Chris Eubank Jr. in the first encounter in April 2025 before beating him in the rematch nearly seven months later. 

The initial press conference for Garcia- Benn was on Saturday and they didn’t want to wait eight weeks, having to be held back on the stage after hurling insults. For now, it’s possible that Benn has the mental edge because he’s touching on a delicate matter: Garcia being a Latino who can’t speak Spanish — while Benn can. 

The insults in Spanish, from the Brit, were vicious and loud, which included that Garcia has a smaller pair and the harsh, untrue claim that the champ is less of a Mexican than him. Then the champ awkwardly kept going on in English. Of course, many Latinos will be on Garcia’s side, but this will be the lasting image for many older ones who don’t have respect for members of their community unable to understand them. 

Part of the Latino experience growing up is many older people wanting to speak with you in the native tongue. The look of disappointment on them when they can’t speak to a youngster because the latter wasn’t taught how is indelible. 

Think of how Julio César Chávez’s implying Oscar De La Hoya wasn’t a real Mexican, when the latter spoke Spanish, was hurtful 31 years ago. No doubt, it motivated De La Hoya to wipe out Chávez twice, yet it remains to be seen if Garcia is as mentally strong as De La Hoya, his co-promoter, was. 

The last time Garcia fought, he took Mario Barrios’ title on Feb. 21, and it was a shutout. In the past, he has been known for his left hook being the kill shot, but his hard right was the best it ever looked and it was a comparable weapon that even dropped Barrios a minute into round one. 

The latest version of Garcia wasn’t just clobbering him from all angles, but he arrived in excellent shape and his gas tank never went low, which was different from when he fought in spurts against Haney. The fight against Haney was originally ruled a win for Garcia on April 20, 2024, but he popped dirty for PEDs. 

Benn’s last outing was not sharp, failing to take out a banged up Regis Prograis on April 11. Some might speculate that he didn’t have the same motivation for Prograis as he did for Eubank, a sworn enemy, because it wasn’t the same level of opponent, but if that’s true, they wouldn’t say good things about his professionalism, even if many others have done this, too.  

Yet, judging by the hostility between him and Garcia, one would wager that the version of Benn going into this fight is more similar to the one that saw Eubank. If there’s one thing he does like his father, Nigel Benn, the two-weight world champ, it’s exhibit his ferocity. On top of that, the younger Benn, who is coming back down to welterweight after fighting last at middleweight and at a 150-pound catchweight, is so tough that he chews on rocks.

Additionally, one potential motivating factor for the challenger is that he is a black man, and Garcia feigned accountability for his racist trash by citing substance abuse problems two years ago. His parents said it was a mental health concern, and Garcia later checked into rehab. Still, this will be his first time stepping into the ring with a black man since.

Benn’s job is now exponentially harder, since he’ll be trying to evade left hooks and a crushing right that Barrios couldn’t escape. He won’t be the favorite, but if he can get out of the way with his upper body movement from the worst of it, to make Garcia back up, then things could get interesting. 

Garcia last showed against Barrios that he can land at will as if he were in target practice if someone is going to chase him without cutting off the ring. Still, as would be true against many fighters, getting him to go backward is preferable to being walked down. 

A few months ago, Garcia- Benn may not have been appealing, but the tension that’s risen to the surface has made this a must-watch fade. Benn has never been the champion, and he finally got his chance to seize the crown, and Garcia is out to further prove his talent plus skills match his popularity.