Crawford Sticks With Benn Upset Pick Over Ryan Garcia in Vegas

Terence Crawford isn't hedging. With Ryan Garcia's first defense of his WBC welterweight title just under a month out, the retired pound-for-pound king told Fight Hub TV he's still picking Conor Benn to walk out of Las Vegas with the belt on September 12 at the T-Mobile Arena.

Crawford's reasoning is simple: size and power. He likes Benn (25-1, 14 KO) to out-muscle Garcia, who lifted the strap back in February with a win over Mario Barrios. It's not a neutral read, either. Crawford, who hung up the gloves in December 2025 while still ranked the world's best fighter, has spent the months since trading shots with Garcia — verbal ones — and the two have built a genuinely testy rivalry in retirement.

The Grudge Behind the Pick

There's a live subplot here. Garcia has already said he wants to drag the undefeated southpaw out of retirement if he beats Benn — which makes Crawford's public backing of the challenger feel less like cold analysis and more like a man rooting against the guy who keeps calling him out. Crawford summed it up bluntly: he's got Benn.

On paper, the pick carries risk. Benn is unranked at welterweight and hasn't fought at 147 in nearly five years. His last outing was a unanimous-decision win over Regis Prograis, and his single career loss is the only blemish on an otherwise tidy ledger. Fourteen KOs in 25 wins isn't the punch-out rate you'd expect from a fighter Crawford is selling on power — but the argument leans on Benn's frame and how he'll carry it up in weight.

The Undercard Wrinkle

The co-feature has its own uncertainty. Jai Opetaia (30-0, 23 KO), the lineal cruiserweight champion, is booked against WBC titleholder Noel Mikaelian (28-3, 12 KO) — but there's chatter that Mikaelian could be stripped for sidestepping a mandatory with David Benavidez (32-0, 26 KO). If that happens, Opetaia's opponent could be walking in without the belt he's supposed to be defending.

Either way, the headline stakes are clear. Garcia has his title and a callout ready for the winner of nothing but a hypothetical. Benn has a shot to announce himself two divisions from where his 2023 troubles began. And Crawford, for now, is standing firmly in the challenger's corner — from the couch.