Conor Benn scored a second unanimous decision victory since his career descended into a circus due to outside-of-the-ring controversy.
Two failed drug tests, as yet unexplained, placed a cloud over Benn that shows no signs of lifting. On Satuday night, Benn fought in the United States for the second time – against the wishes of the British Boxing Board of Control.
The BBBofC believes Benn should be suspended over the whole debacle and is appealing the decision by the National Anti-Doping Panel to lift a temporary ban. There’s been no satisfactory explanation of how clomiphene got into Benn’s system twice in separate tests weeks apart.
A WBC investigation suggested consuming too many eggs could have caused the adverse finding. However, Benn disagreed with this notion. Since then, no further reason has been offered.
Conor Benn’s Elephant in the Room
Nonetheless, Benn continues to fight as UK fans berate the welterweight over his defiance.
Headlining Las Vegas at the two thousand seater Chelsea Ballroom inside The Cosmopolitan of Vegas, Benn did so against the unknown Peter Dobson.
During pre-fight formalities, Benn promised a knockout and accused Dobson of being scared. That didn’t prove to be the case. Dobson was stubborn and took everything Benn had to offer.
No amount of loading up shifted Dobson, even a little. Benn eventually saw out a comprehensive win, which was on par with the CompuBox stats. Dobson had his best round in the fifth.
“Benn out-landed Dobson 87-35 over the first four rounds, giving many the impression that he might overwhelm Dobson,” said CompuBox.
“Dobson seemed to be waiting for Benn to tire, and in the fifth round, Dobson landed 19 punches- his fight high. Benn was never in danger of losing the fight, but Dobson was willing to engage down the stretch, as evidenced by the combatants being separated by four or fewer landed punches in rounds nine through eleven. 40% of Benn’s landed punches were body punches.”
Benn reaction
After the triumph, the inevitable reaction to Benn displaying another lack of punching power since the failures followed.
Devin Haney said: “Left that s*** in the needle,” unleashing the elephant in the room, which proceeded to trample all over Benn.
Left that shit n the needle.. https://t.co/CpXI4YkrcX
— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) February 3, 2024
Trainer Stephen’ Breadman’ Edwards stated: If they make Boots [Jaron Ennis] vs Benn, there is extensive VADA. Bet your 401k on Boots Ennis. The Benn that fought Algieri seems on vacation. I wonder why?
“Chris Algieri is a classy guy; he could say a lot more about the obvious.”
Edwards was eluding to Benn’s impressive early knockout of Algieri, which was unusual for the former WBO champion.
Benn also obliterated Chris Van Heerden, a contender who previously took some shifting and was as stubborn as they came. Benn also beat the South African star into submission early.
Continuing the onslaught, boxer Mykal Fox aired his views on Benn.
“Conor has landed some shots on Pete that he previously put some former world champs away with. They don’t seem to have the same effect as they did in 2022.”
DAZN analyst Sergio Mora added: “Back-to-back decisions for Conor Benn now in the States. Another one-sided but lackluster performance.
“Benn needed to turn heads with a KO but instead had another opponent who walked right through his punches.”
Kenneth Sims Jr. asked: “What happened to Connor Benn’s power?”
Lost edge
There are plenty of comments for Benn and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, to chew over despite the Briton calling out Haney again in the aftermath.
On current evidence, Benn is miles away from Haney and would be beaten handily if that fight was ever made. Benn certainly has lost some of his edge.
Fans and media can make of that what they will.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer and has been the Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
