Two of boxing’s biggest and most polarizing stars will go head-to-head when Ryan Garcia makes the first defense of his WBC welterweight championship against Britain’s Conor Benn on Sept. 12 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Two longtime promotional rivals — Zuffa Boxing’s Dana White and Golden Boy Promotions’ Oscar De La Hoya — will work together for the mega-fight that will stream on Paramount+ worldwide and exclusively on DAZN in the UK and Ireland the weekend before Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16.
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Talks to pair Garcia and Benn began several months ago, but it has been a long, arduous journey to reach Wednesday’s announcement.
Negotiations hit a major roadblock this past month when Garcia’s promoter, Golden Boy, and his broadcaster, DAZN, issued cease-and-desist orders to Zuffa Boxing and TKO, instructing the pair to halt their alleged tortious interference with Garcia.
Golden Boy has a mutual say on all of Garcia’s fights due to a co-promotional option it has on him, although its exclusive promotional deal expired earlier this year. The promoter claimed in the letter to Zuffa that it had not been involved in any of the talks for a bout between Garcia and Benn, despite widespread reports that a deal was close to being finalized.
Conor Benn and Ryan Garcia jaw at one another during the UFC 329 ceremonial weigh-ins.
(Ed Mulholland via Getty Images)
De La Hoya, however, confirmed earlier this month he had finally been brought into discussions for the fight, and said he would make it happen.
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Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs) captured the WBC welterweight title with a near-shutout unanimous decision win over Mario Barrios this past February. He has two defeats, a 2025 decision loss to Rolando “Rolly” Romero for the WBA welterweight title and a seventh-round TKO at the hands of Gervonta “Tank” Davis in 2023.
Garcia’s other high-profile bout was a no-contest with Devin Haney in 2024. After initially defeating Haney by decision, the result was changed in the aftermath when Garcia failed a drug test for the banned substance ostarine.
Benn (25-1, 14 KOs) was considered a natural successor to Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury as Britain’s next standout pay-per-view star until a pair of failed drug tests in 2022 threatened to derail his career. Benn ultimately prevailed in multiple hearings with the UK anti-doping authorities before returning to the ring for two colossal showdowns with Chris Eubank Jr.
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Benn narrowly lost the first fight with Eubank, which was a frontrunner for 2025’s Fight of the Year, but he produced a dominant performance in the rematch last November. Conor, the son of the legendary boxing Hall of Famer Nigel Benn, shocked the boxing world again in February when he announced he had left longtime promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom to become the first marquee signing for Zuffa Boxing.
Benn made his Zuffa debut in April in the Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov co-feature, dropping down in weight to win a competitive decision over former champion Regis Prograis.
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