Ryan Garcia was absent from his initial face-off with Conor Benn on Tuesday in Las Vegas, before their highly anticipated world title bout this weekend. While Garcia opted to skip the photo opportunity, Benn, 29, attended alone alongside his father, boxing legend Nigel Benn, who humorously stood in for Garcia during the mock face-off.
Benn responded to his opponent’s absence by saying, “I apologise for Ryan doing what Ryan does and bottling it. We turn up, we’re here, ready for the face-off,” and added, “Come Saturday, he’s in for a war.”
Garcia, 28, who is favored to defend his WBC welterweight title at the T-Mobile Arena, took to Instagram to mock Benn’s attendance habits. “Nice relaxing time as Conor wastes time showing up to a face-off,” he wrote. “Back to the sauna you go, sausage getting cooked every way.”
The two fighters are scheduled to meet twice more before fight night, with a press conference on Thursday and the official weigh-in on Friday.
The bout has drawn attention for Benn’s weight cut, as the British boxer has not competed at 10st 7lb (67kg) since 2022. Benn previously fought Chris Eubank Jr. at middleweight and faced Regis Prograis at a catchweight of 10st 12lb (69kg) in April.
In the co-main event, Jai Opetaia is set to face Noel Mikaelian in a cruiserweight clash. Mikaelian, the WBC champion, risks being stripped of his title after choosing to fight Opetaia instead of facing his mandatory challenger. Promoter Don King has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Zuffa Boxing, claiming exclusive rights to Mikaelian, but UFC president Dana White confirmed the bout will proceed as planned.
I’m skeptical Garcia can stay healthy after skipping a face-off to hit the sauna. That sounds like a risky tactic.
Benn showing up with his dad is such a power move. Definitely looks more composed than Garcia right now.
Wait, is the co-main event actually happening despite the cease-and-desist letter?
The ‘sausage’ line was actually pretty funny. I haven’t laughed that hard at boxing trash talk in years.
Garcia is really banking on getting into Benn’s head before the bell even rings.