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(VIDEO) Ryan Garcia Demolishes Conor Benn in Two Rounds to Retain WBC Welterweight World Title in Las Vegas
Ryan Garcia made his first defense of the WBC welterweight world championship look easy Saturday night, stopping Conor Benn in the second round of a fight built on nearly two years of bitter animosity between the two boxers, at a sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Garcia, 28, improved to 26-2 with 21 knockouts, dropping Benn with a right hand before overwhelming him with a follow-up barrage that forced referee Thomas Taylor to wave off the fight at the 1:25 mark of the second round. Benn, 29, fell to 25-2 with 14 knockouts and suffered the first stoppage loss of his professional career.
A fast start, then a decisive finish
The fight opened at a frantic pace, with Benn pressing forward early and trying to close the distance against Garcia, who used his reach advantage and footwork to keep his opponent at range and land counter left hooks. One such hook briefly stumbled Benn during the first round, an early sign that Garcia’s timing was on point.
The finish came in the second round, when Garcia landed a heavy right hand that sent Benn to the canvas. Benn beat the referee’s count and rose back to his feet, but he was clearly compromised, and Garcia quickly trapped him against the ropes and unloaded a sustained barrage of punches. With Benn no longer able to defend himself effectively, Taylor stepped in to end the contest.
Speaking in the ring afterward, Garcia credited a specific physical change for the improved right hand that has now factored into consecutive victories.
“I’ve always had a right hand, but I’ve always had injuries,” Garcia said. “These are the first two fights I’ve had no injuries to my right hand.”
He also reflected on his emotional state following the win. “I feel very… It’s surprising, I feel at peace,” Garcia said.
The end of a lengthy, personal buildup
Saturday’s bout carried significant weight beyond the title itself, closing out a rivalry between the two fighters that had simmered for roughly two years. The bad blood dated back to friction between Garcia and Benn dating to their rise through the sport’s welterweight and middleweight ranks, and the buildup to the fight was marked by pointed exchanges between the two camps in the lead-up to fight week.
Garcia entered the bout as a heavy betting favorite, listed at -330 odds by DraftKings, and had told ESPN’s “First Take” earlier in the week that he expected to win by knockout. Benn, for his part, had bulked up significantly for the matchup, reportedly weighing in as high as 178 pounds during preparation before making weight at the 147-pound welterweight limit, a stark contrast to Garcia, who stayed relatively close to the limit throughout fight week. The size discrepancy was visible when the two fighters faced off before the bout.
Garcia’s path to a second title defense
The win marked Garcia’s first successful defense of the WBC welterweight championship, which he captured in February with a unanimous decision victory over Mario Barrios, dropping Barrios in the opening round with an overhand right en route to lopsided scorecards. Saturday’s fight against Benn was Garcia’s third bout competing at 147 pounds.
Benn, meanwhile, was fighting for a major world title for the first time in his career. He had earned his position as the WBC’s top-ranked contender following a pair of hard-fought bouts against Chris Eubank Jr. at a catchweight in 2025, with the rivals splitting those two fights before Benn moved back down toward the welterweight division in pursuit of a title opportunity. His most recent outing prior to Saturday came in April, when he earned a one-sided decision win over Regis Prograis at a 150-pound catchweight.
What comes next for both fighters
In the aftermath of Saturday’s stoppage, attention has already begun shifting toward potential next steps for both men. Garcia has been floated as a possible opponent for Teofimo Lopez, who recently won the WBA welterweight title and appeared near the ring during Saturday’s card in an apparent attempt to arrange a future matchup with Garcia. An all-American showdown between the two would represent one of the more anticipated fights the 147-pound division could produce in the near term.
For Benn, Saturday’s defeat may prompt a reconsideration of his path forward in the sport. Some speculation has already turned toward a potential third meeting with Eubank Jr., continuing a family rivalry that traces back to their fathers, former boxers Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr., who famously feuded in the ring decades earlier. Given the size and speed disadvantages Benn displayed against Garcia on Saturday, it remains an open question whether he will continue campaigning at welterweight or return to competing at middleweight, where his two fights against Eubank Jr. took place.
A milestone night for a new promotion
Saturday’s card, promoted under the Zuffa Boxing banner led by UFC CEO Dana White, represented the promotion’s most high-profile event since its launch earlier this year. The night also featured a significant performance from cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia, who stopped previously undefeated champion Noel Mikaelian in the ninth round to add to his collection of championship belts. Event organizers reported a sold-out crowd of 18,855 fans at T-Mobile Arena, with an announced live gate revenue of just over $8 million for the evening’s card.
With Garcia’s dominant title defense now completed, the welterweight division’s landscape appears increasingly likely to be shaped by a potential Garcia-Lopez showdown, while Benn faces a pivotal decision about his next move following the first true stoppage loss of his career.
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Each September, a who’s who of executives from across Silicon Valley descends on San Francisco’s Palace Hotel to charm investors at a conference hosted by the investment bank Goldman Sachs.
This past week, between talk of growth and potential returns, tech titans found themselves addressing the abrupt resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon.
Coxon, a 27-year-old who worked at OpenAI before joining its chief rival Anthropic, said on Tuesday that people building artificial intelligence (AI) believed the technology could destroy humanity.
They are “gambling with our lives”, he said, “these will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything”.
Coxon is by no means the first AI insider to publicly sound the alarm. There have been a string of high-profile resignations from both Anthropic and OpenAI in recent years over apparent safety concerns, and some current Anthropic employees even echoed Coxon’s post.
“We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade,” a team lead at Anthropic, Evan Hubinger, posted on X.
While Coxon said explicitly in his posts that his warnings were “not marketing”, some executives and investors in Silicon Valley have reacted with scepticism to a recent flurry of insiders sounding the alarm.
Anthropic and OpenAI are reportedly preparing for potentially record-setting initial public offerings, and some in the tech sector have suggested the latest stark comments about the dangers of AI may be designed to generate hype by signalling the power of these products.
Anthropic’s boss, Dario Amodei, has come under fire for saying AI technology could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs and will “test who we are as a species”.
One conference speaker, Grindr CEO George Arison, told the BBC he believed this week’s comments from Coxon and others were indicative of an “anti-civilisational worldview at Anthropic”.
He called them “dangerous” and said they had prompted him to instruct some engineers at the LGBTQ+ dating app to stop using Anthropic’s technology.
“It is irresponsible for us as stewards of our shareholders’ money to be relying on a business that does what this company does, in terms of its public statements,” he said.
“Maybe they actually believe it,” Arison said. “Or you could argue they’re saying it because it’s a great way to gin up more investor support, because the only way to justify these valuations is to actually claim: ‘I’m going to take over every industry and I’m going to take over every job, and my AI is going to be doing all that work.’”
Anthropic was valued at $965bn (£713bn) in its most recent fundraising round earlier this year.
The BBC has asked Anthropic for a response to the statements.
In an essay posted early on Saturday, Amodei called for a slowing of AI model development and global regulation – and said the risks associated with AI were “serious”.
Dorine is a financial journalist passionate about making crypto accessible. With three years covering digital assets, market trends, and blockchain innovation, she helps readers stay ahead of developments that move markets, without the jargon.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
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