Frank Smith believes Ryan Garcia represents a different level of challenge for Conor Benn, saying the unbeaten welterweight contender is heading into the toughest fight of his career if the proposed clash moves forward.
Matchroom CEO Smith discussed the matchup while in Egypt for Saturday’s heavyweight title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven.
“Yeah, I think it will be the hardest fight of his career today,” said Smith to talkSport Boxing. “One thing about Conor Benn, as much as my views may have changed personally, he trains very hard. He’ll give it his all. It’s going to be a great fight, and it will be an entertaining fight, I’m sure.”
“I think Ryan Garcia, though, arguably is another level to the opponents he’s been in with in terms of levels,” Smith said. “But I can’t write Conor off. I’m not going to sit here and write him off in that fight because he’s going to go out there. This changes his life.”
TalkSport host Simon Jordan also questioned whether Benn is finally stepping into what he described as a “real fight.”
“He’s going to go into what I consider to be a real fight for him,” Jordan said while discussing the proposed matchup with Smith.
Smith admitted the fight would have appealed to Matchroom had Benn still been with the company.
“Of course, if we were still promoting Conor Benn, of course, that would be a fight that we would target,” Smith said.
The matchup between Benn and Garcia has been heavily discussed in recent weeks following Garcia’s rise at welterweight and Benn’s move into bigger commercial fights after leaving Matchroom.
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Last Updated on 2026/05/21 at 10:47 PM
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