Fresh from his second round stoppage win over the experienced Jussi Koivula, Conor Benn is looking ahead to his next fight.
There was some talk after the fight of a match-up with Josh Kelly, whose trainer Adam Booth was ringside as part of the Sky TV commentary team.
Booth seemed to give the fight his seal of approval.
When asked on TV about the match-up and if he was keen, Booth said, “What do you think?”
“Domestic rivalries and match-ups elevate British Boxing to another level over and over again,” Booth added.
“What we have here is an exciting young prospect who doesn’t have the extensive amateur career, but is prepared to learn under the microscope, take the risk, and have these wild dust-ups with good fighters.
“In Josh Kelly, you have someone with that amateur brain, someone with the skills and belief. We have the making of a sensational British match-up.”
WBN spoke with Conor Benn this week for his view on who he would like next. While Kelly is a fight he would welcome, he expects it to be built up a bit more.
“I haven’t sat down with my team yet,” Benn exclusively told World Boxing News.
“I think the Josh Kelly fight needs to be built up a little bit more. Potentially it would be right for the end of the year, early next year.
“Providing our careers go the way we plan them to go, it will happen. I’d have that fight tomorrow, it’s what makes sense.”
VARGAS
Benn would like another experienced fighter up next, a guy that has shared the ring with Errol Spence Jr, Amir Khan and Luis Collazo, the Colombian, Samuel Vargas in what would be a good test.
“I’d like to fight Samuel Vargas, to be honest,” Benn explained, “I think that be another statement made. I don’t really rate him, I know this fight (Koivula) there wasn’t much to see because it was a quick knock out but everything was planned.
“He kept throwing the right hand, putting a lot into it. Everything was planned even the finishing shot. I threw a right hook, a right uppercut, as his hands were up, I threw a right hook, right uppercut then a left. It was calculated. It looks reckless, it looks wild but it’s all calculated.
“I wish I could have done a bit more of what I had been working on,” Benn continued. “But I wanted to make a statement with that fight. I’m 22, three and a half years as a pro. I wanted to make that statement of getting him out of there.”
Benn then switched back to his reasoning for the Vargas fight.
“I believe I’d be too quick, too powerful, too strong, too fast for Vargas. Maybe the experience is lacking but I have heart as well, it’s all there!”
Mick Kane is a Staff Writer to World Boxing News. Follow Mick on Twitter @MickKaneMMA
