{"id":649399,"date":"2026-05-05T13:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/649399\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:45:07","slug":"conor-benn-refused-to-fight-three-world-champions-says-hearn-he-knows-his-limitations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/649399\/","title":{"rendered":"Conor Benn refused to fight three world champions says Hearn: “He knows his limitations”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie Hearn has claimed that Conor Benn<\/a> rejected three world title opportunities before inking a deal with Dana White\u2019s Zuffa Boxing.<\/p>\n

It was announced in February that \u2018The Destroyer\u2019 had signed a one-fight agreement with the new promotional outfit<\/a>, ending his working relationship with Matchroom Boxing.<\/p>\n

This followed his successful revenge mission against Chris Eubank Jr in November, while their first encounter ended in a unanimous decision defeat earlier last year.<\/p>\n

After fighting at middleweight \u2013 with a 10lb rehydration clause \u2013 on both occasions, Benn then decided to face Regis Prograis at a catchweight of 150lbs.<\/p>\n

Featuring on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov last month, the 29-year-old claimed a dominant 10-round points victory<\/a> over the since-retired former two-time world champion.<\/p>\n

This was his first outing since signing with Zuffa, who have subsequently tied him down to a multi-fight deal. The plan, it seems, is for Benn to face WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia later this year, given that he remains the sanctioning body\u2019s leading contender at 147lbs.<\/p>\n

According to Hearn, though, the Ilford man declined fights against Lewis Crocker, Rolando Romero and Josh Kelly while still aligned with his promotional banner.<\/p>\n

During a media huddle with Boxing News, the Matchroom promoter explained that each suggestion was met with little interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Lewis Crocker won the world [welterweight] title, I was like, \u2018Oh my God \u2013 Crocker v Benn at the O2 [Arena] for the world title!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Conor and he was like, \u2018Nah, I don\u2019t want that fight\u2019. Then he eventually started talking about the [IBF\u2019s 10lb] rehydration [policy] and all that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo then I was like, \u2018Rolly Romero\u2019 \u2013 we had that fight done with [Romero\u2019s manager] Luis DeCubas. Benn was like, \u2018It\u2019s not a very big fight\u2019. I\u2019m like, \u2018Mate, you\u2019re getting a [WBA] world [welterweight] title fight in London. I think you can beat Rolly Romero.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about [IBF super-welterweight champion] Josh Kelly at [Sunderland\u2019s] Stadium of Light?\u2019 [Benn said:] \u2018I ain\u2019t fighting f***ing Josh Kelly\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he knows his limitations, so why would you get beat for small money when you can get beat for bigger money?\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Benn is yet to prove himself at world level and, despite his WBC ranking, has not fought at 147lbs since his second-round finish over Chris van Heerden in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn has claimed that Conor Benn rejected three world title opportunities before inking a deal with Dana…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-649399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}