Conor Benn needed only one sentence to send Ryan Garcia out of his chair on Saturday in New York.
“Listen, Ryan. Ryan, Ryan, calm down. You’re having one of them little episodes,” Benn said as Garcia’s voice rose during their first press conference for the September 12 WBC welterweight title fight. “Calm down. I know you’re getting all excited.”
Garcia’s answer became the moment of the afternoon. “I know you’re getting all excited, but I’ll come over there and smack them glasses straight off your face,” Garcia said, then said it again. “I don’t understand. You understand? I’ll come over there and smack them glasses straight off your face. That’s what I’ll do.”
When Benn stayed in his seat, Garcia kept going, playing to the crowd at Fanatics Fest. “You won’t do shit. I promise you won’t do shit. You won’t do shit,” Garcia repeated, before turning the line into a chant. “Who want to do shit? Who want to do shit?”
Benn had spent the earlier portion of the press conference in a flat, dismissive register, and his refusal to match Garcia’s volume seemed to feed the exchange. “He’s like a big child. He’s like a spoiled brat. Throws his toys out of the pram on social media throwing little tantrums,” Benn said. “I’m not really too concerned about this little influencer to my right. He ain’t a fighter. He can say whatever he wants. Ain’t going to make no difference come September the 12th.”
Benn pointed to his record in long fights as the proof. “I don’t quit. I don’t stay down,” he said.
Garcia rejected the framing outright. “Not going to make it to 12. He’s not going to make it to 12. There’s not going to be a 12 round war. I promise you that,” he said, adding, “Wait till I smack you up and make you quit.”
The insults turned personal from there. With the fight set for Mexican Independence Day weekend in Las Vegas, Garcia told Benn, “You quit. You have no heart,” and, “You’re not Mexican, bro. You ain’t got the heart.” Both men eventually left their seats during the face-off, and security stepped between them before the event closed.
The confrontation came three days after the fight was made official for T-Mobile Arena, where Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs) makes the first defense of the WBC welterweight title he won from Mario Barrios in February. Benn (25-1, 14 KOs) enters as the mandatory challenger, receiving the first world title shot of his career.
