Ryan Garcia defends his world welterweight title tonight against Conor Benn in a 12-round WBC welterweight bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Garcia (25-2, 1 NC, 20 KOs) won the belt in February by dominating Mario Barrios in the same building, and repeating that performance against Benn would finally solidify a career that has swung between highlight-reel knockouts and public meltdowns. A loss would reopen questions that trailed him after a no-contest with Devin Haney and a flat decision defeat to Rolando Romero.
Conor Benn Chases His Father’s Title
Benn is fighting for his first world championship, the same WBC belt his father, former two-division titleholder Nigel Benn, once held. He earned the shot by avenging his lone career loss to Chris Eubank Jr. and outpointing former champion Regis Prograis, then dropped back to 147 pounds for the first time since 2022.
Two Big Personalities, One Vegas Stage
Both fighters made weight Friday, Garcia at 145 1/2 pounds and Benn at 146, with Garcia installed as a heavy betting favorite. The card streams on Paramount+ in the U.S. and DAZN in the U.K., with Jai Opetaia defending his The Ring magazine and Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight titles against Noel Mikaelian in the co-main event.
Follow the fight below on this page for live reaction and the instant Heavy.com scorecard for each round.
Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn
It’s 8 p.m. here in the Pacific Time Zone, 11 p.m. in the east, and we’re waiting for the ring walks before tonight’s main event, the world welterweight championship. First, however, we sit through the hype videos. But it’s hard to believe that fans aren’t already pretty hyped for this fight.
The Paramount+ webcast needs time for the ringside commentators to finish their pre-fight analysis, apparently. The ring walks should be just minutes away. We hope.
Kalshi, one of the fight’s main sponsors, now has Garcia at 73% probability to win, according to predictions on the site.
Now here comes Benn, walking in to “Ready or Not” by The Fugees. Whether he is ready for Garcia or not, Benn enters the ring for his first world title opportunity.
Garcia’s walk in tune is “El Rey,” the anthemic cultural anthem, as recorded by Vicente Fernandez. Garcia makes his way to the ring with a two-sided flag draped over his shoulders. One side is the Mexican flag, the other the American. Garcia hails from Victorville, California.
Fighter intros up next then we’re ready to go. And here’s the opening bell!
Round 1: Garcia landing three quick left hooks, one of which moves Benn back a step. Benn wants to make this a brawl and that’s what he’s doing. Plenty of action already and we’re only halfway through the first.
Garcia sticking and moving. He lands a sharp right uppercut. Benn returns with a flurry that doesn’t make too much contact.
Excellent first round. Delivers the action this fight promised. Garcia landed more and cleaner shots, so he wins this one.
Garcia 10, Benn 9.
Round 2 Garcia stuns Benn with a hard right as Benn charges in.
And Benn is down!
A right hand bomb. Now Benn gets back up and Garcia is pinning him against the ropes.
It’s over!
A spectacular, dominant performance by Garcia. Benn simply never saw the devastating right that put him down.
Arguably, Benn could have continued. But he was badly hurt and had no real chance.
What a win for Garcia. Hard to imagine a welterweight beating him after that performance, but certainly many will try. The money for his next fight should be even bigger than the reported $15 million he made for that outing that lasted only four minutes and 25 seconds.
Garcia tells interviewer Max Kellerman that feels “at peace.” He then explains that the sudden emergence of his right hook was due to his having injuries to his right in previous fights.
Now Garcia calls out his possible next challenger Teofimo Lopez, who attempts to rush the ring, and Garcia shouts that he’ll “beat your a** right now.” Good hype for that prospective fight.
That’s it. Thank you for joining for our Heavy.com round-by-round live coverage.
Jai Opetaia vs. Noel Mikaelian
The two fighters who will battle it out for the world cruiserweight championship are now in the ring at 7:10 Pacific Time, and we’re awaiting the introductions.
Mikaelian’s introduction notes that if he were to defy the odds and win this fight, he would become the first cruiserweight title-holder of Armenian descent.
Round 1: The opening round starts as a feeling-out process. Mikaelian is backing up, as Opetaia appears to control the ring.
Already a minor clash of heads, as tends to happen with a southpaw (Opetaia) versus orthodox matchup.
Mikaelian managed to get through with the somewhat better punches in the opening round.
Mikaelian 10, Opetaia 9.
Round 2: Opetaia showing the effects of the head clash under his left eye.
The challenger showing little if any fear of the champion’s shots. But Opetaia is gradually taking control, throwing more jabs this round.
A solid right from Mikaelian wins an otherwise uneventful round.
Mikaelian 20, Opetaia 18.
Round 3: Opetaia may be racing against time here as the swelling under his eye grows.
Mikaelian’s ability to persist and survive, landing the occasional solid punch is keeping the Armenian native in the fight, but whether he is impressing the judges is another story.
The right jab from the champion keeps Mikaelian at a distance. Ring generalship gives Opetaia the round on the Heavy.com card.
Mikaelian 29, Opetaia 28.
Round 4: First flurry from Opetaia opens this round. But Mikaelian appears to be frustrating the champ. Now Opetaia is warned for holding and hitting. But his hard left uppercuts are making headway.
Mikaelian’s face is reddening, showing the effects of the repeated jabs.
Opetaia’s body shots may be slowing Mikaelian who complains to the ref, only to leave himself open for another one. The champ gets that round.
Mikaelian 38, Opetaia 38.
Round 5: At the start of Round 5, Mikaelian has Opetaia moving backward. He ties the Australian up when Opetaia moves to the inside.
Opetaia is clearly landing the more punishing shots now, with multiple combinations to the challenger’s head. Still, Mikaelian does not appear to be slowing, though Opetaia is commanding this round, and now leads the fight on our card.
Mikaelian 47, Opetaia 48.
Round 6: Opetaia’s jabs now establishing distance between the fighters. At one point Opetaia drops his arms and Mikaelian refuses to advance.
Mikaelian throws an overhand right but to little avail. Opetaia is finally breaking his opponent’s will. Much less aggression from the challenger now. This fight has turned well in the champion’s favor.
Mikaelian 56, Opetaia 58.
Round 7: If we’re being honest at this point, the biggest remaining question in this bout is whether Opetaia can put Mikaelian away before the final bell sounds.
Big right from Mikaelian! Opetaia is rocked and holds on. That one punch turns the tide of the round.
Opetaia seems to have recovered, but Mikaelian may be waiting him out here, hoping that Opetaia moves in and shows him his jaw again.
Surprisingly, we have to give that round to Mikaelian simply for landing the biggest single blow of the fight.
Mikaelian 66, Opetaia 67.
Round 8: Mikaelian may have seen his opportunity pass him by. The champion takes command at the start of the round.
Now Opetaia is warned for a low blow, though shot appeared to land on the belt line.
Mikaelian may be losing this fight and we have the feeling that our card has it closer than the judges, but he is not going away. Opetaia simply can’t find that key to getting rid of this challenge. Nonetheless, he wins that round by controlling the action and landing more punches.
Mikaelian 76, Opetaia 77.
Round 9: Good combinations by Opetaia here, but Mikaelian continues to counter. But a huge left hand by the champ! Mikaelian was holding the right but left himself open on his right side and Opetaia landed a brutal right hook to end the fight.
Opetaia wins by technical knockout!
Opetaia scores his 31st win against no losses, with his 24th knockout to retain his cruiserweight title.
Garcia vs. Benn is up next. Our round-by-round reaction and scoring will start near the top of the page, so please scroll up.
Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn Live: Round-by-Round Scorecard, Results, Reaction