With 21 fights under his belt, it looks as though the time has come for Conor Benn to step into the deep end.
The unbeaten welterweight had been due to fight in July with a host of names being linked to the Londoner. However, his promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing Social’s Andi Purewal that they may move from that schedule and into an even bigger fight a month or two later.
“I had a meeting with Conor yesterday,” said Hearn. “We’re weighing up whether you have a fight in July or whether you go into the biggest fight possible in August or September. There are three or four names bandied around which will get everybody absolutely frothing at the mouth. I won’t mention them on here because we’re negotiating at the moment.”
“It’s likely he will go straight into a big one next,” he added. “I’m talking big, big. The stabilisers are off. We’ll see what happens. We’ve got the July 9 date. That could be Conor, it could be Chisora as well. We’ll decide that over the next couple of days.
“If you listen to Conor and you know what he wants maybe it’s time to let him go and spread his wings and dive straight in with the real big boys.”
With the welterweight division set to have its champions Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford fight in an undisputed clash later this year the question is who fits the criteria that Hearn described.
One name being constantly linked is Keith Thurman. The former WBA welterweight champion is a neighbour of Benn’s in the top five across the WBC, WBA and WBO rankings. Benn is also at five in the IBF’s ratings. Other options for a “big, big fight” could be Danny Garcia or Mikey Garcia.
Benn fought just last month when he destroyed Chris van Heerden in two rounds which was further proof that the world title contender needs a significant step up in opposition.