It's been a year since he last fought so it will be interesting to see who he goes in with, I don't know if he's really come on that much since going life and death with a kickboxer who fancied giving boxing a go.
I don't think it's Jenkins for the British as that will surely go to purse bids which have not even taken place yet? From the tweet it sounds like it's a name we don't expect which would again mean not Jenkins as that has been talked about since March. I would be massively impressed if it's Kongo as I think Chris beats Connor Benn for sure, not only that but hurts and stops him too. Maybe Connor has been offered the Avanesyan fight and has surprised everyone by saying yes? That's an even tougher fight and one he will lose for sure. Probably neither of those two to be honest...
From what I've heard Connor Benn has been improving tremendously in the gym... also looks that way from the footage I've seen but there's ABSOLUTELY NO WAY they put him in with Avanesyan. That would be bonkers. It's time to step him up now but people get carried away. He had extremely little amateur experience and has basically been learning on the job in arenas which is pretty unprecedented. Given time I do think he has potential to make some noise and whether he goes through the levels or not, he is entertaining with a pair of gloves on.
It will be interesting, the word is they are withdrawing from those purse bids. We will see, but if they do withdraw from those purse bids it isn't a great look after chasing it for a fairly long time and all that's been said.
I've watched bits and pieces of his training this year and from what I've seen and heard he has worked very hard and is developing well. Your right he has close to zero amateur experience and came to boxing quite late. I always watch his fights as they are great fun. I think he has a serious problem at 147 though. He is not just small, he is TINY at the weight. Physically he honestly looks like someone two divisions under welterweight. He is working to change that I know but for me he is just at too much of a disadvantage to compete at a good level. Strength, size and physicality wise he is a long way off any top welter weight. I know he can punch a bit but I doubt his power will trouble many outside of the level he has fought at so far. I'm now very curious at to who he is fighting next... Would like to see him in with Josh Kelly in 2021. Absolutely no reason to not make that fight as I don't think either of them have anything to lose, neither in my opinion has a very high ceiling.
He is definitely on the smaller side for sure but he is pretty stocky so wouldn't make 135. I think he could have made 135 a couple of years ago but he filled out a bit. Think he will eventually be a fully fledged welterweight, might even be a solid 154 one day he's still young. His old man was a pretty short 160-168 lbser too but he had the power to make up for a lack of height. Conor reckons he's developing his man strength let's see what he's made of. Don't think he will be a world beater but I do think he will be handy at British level, maybe even Euro level.
Formella, only lost 1 and that was on points against porter. Should be a decent scrap. He leapfrogs Kelly with a win here.
I’m not going to pretend to have seen much of Formella but it certainly seems that he has very good pedigree. Pretty bold move from Benn to take this fight when a lot of fans won’t know how hard the fight will be. Another reason why I’m warming to Benn gradually as a boxer, kid has balls and real belief. Hearn’s tweet makes sense now.
