Which other boxers have you seen who have made such a rapid improvement like Conor Benn has?

3 and a half years is a long long time and he began late, so it’s not rapid improvement.

 

jamie McDonnell
lost twice on the bounce
the beat ian napa and went on a fantastic run
didnt have the backing benn as though

 

Vargas on paper should have given Benn - if nothing else some rounds. But Connor looked sharp, accurate and spiteful.
I'd like him to challenge for the British title sooner rather than later I hate it when they start finding journey men to pad records.
He needs opponents with something to fight for at the moment. Fighting guys who were good but faded has its place but I think he still needs a bit more seasoning before he looks for a name to start sending the signal he's going to the next level.

 

Fully agree on Porter, completely different level. Porter is a lion in boxing in comparison to Benn who is a cub, he'd get brutally mauled.

 

Anthony Crolla went from a domestic level fighter losing in prizefighter and to a journeyman, to sudden massive improvement winning a world title beating Ismael Barroso, Darleys Perez, John Murray and looking world level.

Then bizzarely seem to regress back to his former level.

There was about a 2 year period were he looked very good. Maybe it was peds?

 

I like Benn now, but his interviews come off far faker than AJ to me. Just seems so forced

Love the spanish though

 

I think he just peaked and was well matched with the right opponents at the right time, the Matchroom hype around him was pretty unbearable, he had that backstory and boy did they use it.

 

Please............this is painful..........if we are pinning our hopes on Benn as the next British messiah then I give up!! He’s no way world beater level and calling out Khan if he felt he was is a cop out!!! Khan is shot.....jab his chin he’s horizontal.

IMO he’s a bad KO waiting to happen the moment he meets a banger. He’s too wild for me and will fall in a trap against a top opponent.

Think Hearn making him a PPV too early will come back to haunt him. Think he should have had a couple more fights with a challenge for maybe a decent title after then put him on that pedestal. Slight worry is the lad believes the hype and takes oppenents for granted.

 

Nobody is "pinning hopes on Benn" as some kind of saviour of British boxing. The thread is only about the fantastic improvements he has made since the Peynaud fight. I think this board is unanimous in ridiculing Johnny Nelson's wild claim that Benn could beat Porter.

 

One thing that gets me a bit, Rylan Charlton took a then risky fight with Joe Laws, a gamble that early in his career and he was definitely the underdog. He ices Laws and his reward is to have to go up in weight to face the bigger Marku, he eventually lost after a gutsy performance but the size difference told. Had Charlton had half the backing that Benn has had he wouldn't have had to do anything like that, can you imagine the Conor Benn that fought Peynaud going in as the smaller man against Marku? Can you imagine him doing that whilst also having a full time job as a chef like Charlton? Don't get me wrong, Benn has come on a lot but this is all he has to worry about in his life, improving at a sport. Benn can put everything into this, no 8-12 hour work days and fitting in training and diet around it, just purely living the life of someone who has made it before he's made it. That should never be forgotten, praise where praise is due but let's not forget the foundations his career has been built on compared to that of most others.

 

He’s def improved I don’t doubt that. However I’m still not sure he is much better than European level. Technically I don’t think he is great and he loads up, plus his footwork is average. Personally I think there could be an element of Lewis Ritson about this mini run. Stick him in with McKinson next - they won’t and I hate these international/continental belts as they are just cherry picks for rankings. As much as Samuel Vargas has fought at a higher level he’s on the way down and I think it was evident that Formella didn’t have the skill set to trouble anyone at the elite level. Ridiculous that Benn hasn’t even fought for a Commonwealth belt but that’s the Matchroom way.

 

Yeah good comparison with Ritson tbh, but at least Ritson cleaned up at British level, unlike Benn. Sadly for Ritson he's been found wanting above British level but he at least proved himself there.

Benn's more Matchroom's version of Anthony Yarde as I've said somewhere else. Difference there is, is that even Yarde stepped up against Kovalev in Russia in his 19th fight. Can't see Benn being risked for a few years yet.

 

Vargas has losses to high level opponents like Spence and Danny Garcia. But make no mistake about it, he's never been at a high level. He's never done nothing, never beat nobody.. He was just used as a durable opponent. He's not even a top 100 welterweight. He's just as low as he's always been.

 

Sure he has improved, but I think that just experience and he is a little more relaxed in front of the cameras and can handle the attention better.

But.. It's the level of opposition that makes me question just how much he has improved.

Josh Kelly got lit up by Avanesyan.. Do any of you believe Formella or Vargas beat Josh Kelly?

Do any of you believe Formella or Vargas beat Marku?



We will not know just how much Benns improved and just how good he is until he fights a live opponent, a fighter who isn't shopworn, comes to fight, can dig a little bit and wants to win.

 

Yeah. Looks that Vargas does have long mileage, he was 31-6-2.
His last fight before Benn was Vergil Ortiz Jr who punched him 7 rounds until Vargas had been finished. Maybe this beat up had declined him?