BoMac Says Conor Benn 'Destroys' Ryan Garcia in Vegas Title Fight

Brian 'BoMac' McIntyre doesn't do fence-sitting. Terence Crawford's longtime head trainer has looked at the September 12 welterweight title fight between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn and landed on a one-word verdict: Benn destroys him. Speaking on The Last Stand Podcast, McIntyre said Benn will likely stop Garcia and do it emphatically, staking his own reputation on the pick.

The fight lands at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Garcia making the first defense of the WBC welterweight strap he lifted from Mario Barrios back in February. Benn arrives at 25-1 (14 KO) as the controversial mandatory challenger, coming off a unanimous-decision win over Regis Prograis. On paper it's the champion's night. McIntyre isn't buying it.

Why BoMac Isn't Sold on King Ry

The trainer's reasoning traces back to Garcia's messy recent run. McIntyre argued that Garcia hasn't been the same fighter since he got caught clean in his first meeting with Devin Haney, and that he's never fully rebuilt the winning form that once made him such a threat. That's a pointed thing to say about a man who just won a world title, but the timeline gives it some teeth.

Garcia's career-best performance against Haney was wiped from the books, overturned to a no-contest after a failed drug test. A one-year ban followed. When he returned, he came up short against Rolando Romero in a bid for the WBA welterweight belt. Then came the reset: a dominant showing against Barrios in February that finally delivered his first world championship. Redemption arc or borrowed time? McIntyre clearly leans toward the latter.

The Benn Question

For all the noise, Benn's ledger is a lot thinner on knockouts than his reputation suggests. Fourteen stoppages in 25 wins isn't the record of a one-punch nightmare, and his most recent outing went the full distance. McIntyre says he's seen Benn up close, and that first-hand look is what fuels the prediction. Take that for what it's worth.

Worth noting: the man who exposed Garcia in that first Haney fight, Devin Haney himself, is now WBO welterweight champion at 33-0. So the division's shadow looms over whoever walks out of this one with the belt. Underneath the main event, lineal cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia (30-0, 23 KO) faces WBC titleholder Noel Mikaelian (28-3, 12 KO) in a genuinely serious co-feature. Plenty to settle in Vegas on September 12.