Following his wide points victory over Regis Prograis in front of over 60,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, Conor Benn is reportedly a free agent.
Benn (25-1, 14 KOs) signed a reported $15 million one fight deal with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing, that one fight taking place of the Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov undercard. The move caused a stir in boxing, with Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn feeling aggrieved due to publicly backing the 29-year-old contender after failing multiple PED tests ahead of an originally penned bout with Chris Eubank Jr in 2022.
“We’ll find out soon,” Hearn told reporters yesterday evening, regarding Benn’s free agency. “Obviously we need to look into that very deeply given the legalities of the process. It would be an amazing thing if that really were a one fight deal with no other conversations to tie him into a deal beyond that. We’ll find out very soon.”
Hearn added on whether he can make an approach to re-sign the British welterweight: “As I understand it I can. I believe that would be a complete waste of time and I certainly won’t be.”
Benn’s performance against Prograis failed to flatter, regular walking onto shots against the soon-to-retire American. Although the performance was largely dominating, with all three judges scoring the fight 98-92, Benn received some criticizm for his performance against a Prograis who was clearly struggling with a leg injury. It is safe to say that the cost of Benn’s deal was far removed from being value for money.
“Everyone is criticizing him, criticizing his performance and when you are little bit below-par and talk the talk like Conor Benn does, you are going to get criticized,” Hearn explained. “I think the biggest thing is, everyone knew Regis shouldn’t have been in there. Obviously, his statement after the fight proves that. So, you would have expected him to have got Regis out of there, but Regis is an experienced guy, a tricky southpaw. I thought there was a lot of pressure on Conor.
“I just think he’s better up the weights’. I don’t think he has any power down there anymore. His punches didn’t look to have any zip in them. And I think he is better and stronger and sharper at up at 154 and 160 [pounds]. Obviously, he wants to fight for the title at 147.”
