Shakur Stevenson already believed Conor Benn wasn’t on his level – and nothing Benn did in his unanimous decision victory Saturday over Regis Prograis changed the four-division champion’s mind.
Stevenson and Benn had gone back and forth with each other on The Ariel Helwani Show before. So it was only fitting that on Monday, two days after Benn-Prograis, Stevenson spoke to Helwani again.
“Everything that I said on the show [previously] came to fruition,” Stevenson said. “I’ve been told y’all I’m better than him. I’ve been told y’all he's not on my level. I've been told y’all that his skills is not up to par with mine.”
Stevenson said Benn, 25-1 (14 KOs), looked “green” against an opponent who “is well past his time.” He did acknowledge that Benn is “getting better” but “can’t catch up to me.”
Stevenson, 25-0 (11 KOs), recently dethroned lineal and Ring Magazine junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez, after previously winning titles at 126, 130 and 135lbs. He told Helwani he’d be willing to move up to 147 to take on Benn – but only with a rehydration clause, solely because that’s what Benn required of Chris Eubank Jnr in their two-fight series at middleweight in 2025.
“I’m down,” Stevenson said. “I done said I was down before. I’m only interested because when I said, ‘Let’s do it,’ every fan said, ‘Oh, he’s [Stevenson is] too small. He’s going to get murdered. He’s going to get beat up.’ So since y’all felt that way, then let’s make the fight happen. Let me show y’all why I will beat the holy shit out of Conor Benn.”
Stevenson said “there’s a real possibility” he would stop Benn, and that he would be disappointed in himself if the stoppage didn’t happen.
But he also expects that Benn, who is rated No. 1 by the WBC at 147lbs, would rather opt for a match against that sanctioning body’s welterweight titleholder, Ryan Garcia.
“He thinks that he could possibly win that fight,” Stevenson said. “With a fight with me, I know that he’s looking like, ‘Yeah, I’m not on that level,’ so he probably won't prefer a fight with me over a Ryan Garcia fight. I think Ryan beats him. But I think [Benn] thinks that he can win.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
