By Quitano Gonzalez
Wed, Sep 23 2026
What's Next for Ryan Garcia Following Stunning Second Round Knockout of Conor Benn?
By Thursday afternoon, Ryan Garcia was standing on a dais at T-Mobile Arena eating a boiled egg in front of Conor Benn, a not-so-subtle callback to the raw egg Chris Eubank Jr. once slapped across Benn's face at a press conference. Benn didn't flinch. "Not here for a cuddle," he said, and meant it.
Then, halfway through the presser, a reporter in a cap, sunglasses, and a long fake beard stood up and asked Benn a beard-transplant question under the name Jack Hoffman. It was hilariously Teofimo Lopez in disguise, the newly crowned WBA welterweight titleholder, who'd been sitting in his anonymous outfit a few feet from the stage the entire time, waiting for Garcia to say his name so he could reveal himself. Garcia obliged him. Dana White had to physically step between the two fighters at the face-off.
But before 'King Ry' could set up any potential mouth-watering clash with Lopez, he first had to take care of business with Benn, and he promised he would do so inside five rounds. Online betting sites seemed to agree. Outlets such as the popular Sportaza online sportsbooklisted the reigning WBC welterweight champion as a -300 favourite to successfully dispatch Benn before moving on to the Lopez crunch clash. And in the end, he needed less than two rounds to do exactly that.
Benn, who hadn't made the 147-pound limit in over four years after two stints up at middleweight against Eubank Jr., came out fast in round one, trying to smother Garcia and close the distance before his legs gave out. It didn't work. Garcia used his reach and his footwork to walk Benn into that trademark left hook, mixed in a sneaky right uppercut when Benn ducked low, and banked the round comfortably. In the second, he stepped back, found the range, and dropped Benn with a heavy overhand right.
Benn beat the count, looked capable of continuing, but referee Thomas Taylor had seen enough by the time Garcia's follow-up flurry landed clean against a defenceless challenger along the ropes. The stoppage came at 1:25 of round two. Garcia's fastest win in six years, his first defence of the WBC title he'd taken off Mario Barrios in February, and his record now sits at 26-2 with 21 knockouts in front of a sellout crowd that produced a gate north of $8 million.
Then came the part everyone's still talking about. Garcia grabbed the microphone and started screaming toward the ringside. "Teofimo, get that ass up here! Where you at? Unified time, where you at?" Security wouldn't let Lopez through the ropes, which felt almost funny given that the same crew had waved David Benavidez in earlier in the night to shake hands with Jai Opetaia over a future fight.
Not Teofimo. He never got past the barrier, and Garcia, leaning over from the ring apron, kept it going anyway. "You wanna get crazy, we can get crazy. I'll beat your a-- right now." So, will he be next in line to face that blistering Garcia speed? Or will a different option ultimately present itself? Here are Garcia's most likely next opponents.
Lopez didn't need an invitation to insert himself into this story; he'd been doing it all week. He's a three-division champion now, having ground out a majority decision over Rolando Romero on August 22 that saw him take a nasty cut over his right eye in round five before his speed and footwork wore Romero down over the second half. That win erased a lopsided decision loss to Shakur Stevenson back in January that had cost him his junior welterweight belts.
The animosity with Garcia isn't manufactured for pay-per-view. It's the fight both camps actually want, and after Thursday's disguise stunt and Saturday's shouting match, it may be the one that gets made first. Lopez has already shown he can take a shot and stay composed when he's hurt; the question is whether he can hold that discipline for twelve rounds against a faster, fresher man.
Call it unfinished business if you want. These two met back in April 2024 in a clash billed as This One Counts, a reference to six amateur bouts between Devin Haney and Garcia that split three apiece. The pro version ended messier.
Garcia missed weight by 3.2 pounds, then dropped Haney three times en route to a majority decision, only for the result to be scrubbed to a no contest after he tested positive for ostarine. Lawsuits followed.
Haney's since become a three-division champion in his own right, beating Jose Ramirez and then dropping and outboxing Brian Norman Jr. for the WBO strap. He's 33-0 (with that one no contest), but everyone saw what Garcia did to him two years ago. If he wants his revenge, now is the time, and he could well take the WBC title in the process.
Nobody's fighting for promotional oxygen in Brisbane, and Paro knows it. He dethroned Lewis Crocker for the IBF title on home soil in June, grinding out a decision on volume while Garcia and Lopez soaked up every headline three continents away. He's 28-1, a southpaw who can jab from range and take Garcia's left hook out of the equation entirely. It's a legitimate title fight with none of the drama, and that's exactly why it's the longest shot of the three.
Then, halfway through the presser, a reporter in a cap, sunglasses, and a long fake beard stood up and asked Benn a beard-transplant question under the name Jack Hoffman. It was hilariously Teofimo Lopez in disguise, the newly crowned WBA welterweight titleholder, who'd been sitting in his anonymous outfit a few feet from the stage the entire time, waiting for Garcia to say his name so he could reveal himself. Garcia obliged him. Dana White had to physically step between the two fighters at the face-off.
But before 'King Ry' could set up any potential mouth-watering clash with Lopez, he first had to take care of business with Benn, and he promised he would do so inside five rounds. Online betting sites seemed to agree. Outlets such as the popular Sportaza online sportsbooklisted the reigning WBC welterweight champion as a -300 favourite to successfully dispatch Benn before moving on to the Lopez crunch clash. And in the end, he needed less than two rounds to do exactly that.
Garcia Outclasses Benn
Benn, who hadn't made the 147-pound limit in over four years after two stints up at middleweight against Eubank Jr., came out fast in round one, trying to smother Garcia and close the distance before his legs gave out. It didn't work. Garcia used his reach and his footwork to walk Benn into that trademark left hook, mixed in a sneaky right uppercut when Benn ducked low, and banked the round comfortably. In the second, he stepped back, found the range, and dropped Benn with a heavy overhand right.
Benn beat the count, looked capable of continuing, but referee Thomas Taylor had seen enough by the time Garcia's follow-up flurry landed clean against a defenceless challenger along the ropes. The stoppage came at 1:25 of round two. Garcia's fastest win in six years, his first defence of the WBC title he'd taken off Mario Barrios in February, and his record now sits at 26-2 with 21 knockouts in front of a sellout crowd that produced a gate north of $8 million.
Then came the part everyone's still talking about. Garcia grabbed the microphone and started screaming toward the ringside. "Teofimo, get that ass up here! Where you at? Unified time, where you at?" Security wouldn't let Lopez through the ropes, which felt almost funny given that the same crew had waved David Benavidez in earlier in the night to shake hands with Jai Opetaia over a future fight.
Not Teofimo. He never got past the barrier, and Garcia, leaning over from the ring apron, kept it going anyway. "You wanna get crazy, we can get crazy. I'll beat your a-- right now." So, will he be next in line to face that blistering Garcia speed? Or will a different option ultimately present itself? Here are Garcia's most likely next opponents.
Teofimo Lopez
Lopez didn't need an invitation to insert himself into this story; he'd been doing it all week. He's a three-division champion now, having ground out a majority decision over Rolando Romero on August 22 that saw him take a nasty cut over his right eye in round five before his speed and footwork wore Romero down over the second half. That win erased a lopsided decision loss to Shakur Stevenson back in January that had cost him his junior welterweight belts.
The animosity with Garcia isn't manufactured for pay-per-view. It's the fight both camps actually want, and after Thursday's disguise stunt and Saturday's shouting match, it may be the one that gets made first. Lopez has already shown he can take a shot and stay composed when he's hurt; the question is whether he can hold that discipline for twelve rounds against a faster, fresher man.
Devin Haney
Call it unfinished business if you want. These two met back in April 2024 in a clash billed as This One Counts, a reference to six amateur bouts between Devin Haney and Garcia that split three apiece. The pro version ended messier.
Garcia missed weight by 3.2 pounds, then dropped Haney three times en route to a majority decision, only for the result to be scrubbed to a no contest after he tested positive for ostarine. Lawsuits followed.
Haney's since become a three-division champion in his own right, beating Jose Ramirez and then dropping and outboxing Brian Norman Jr. for the WBO strap. He's 33-0 (with that one no contest), but everyone saw what Garcia did to him two years ago. If he wants his revenge, now is the time, and he could well take the WBC title in the process.
Liam Paro
Nobody's fighting for promotional oxygen in Brisbane, and Paro knows it. He dethroned Lewis Crocker for the IBF title on home soil in June, grinding out a decision on volume while Garcia and Lopez soaked up every headline three continents away. He's 28-1, a southpaw who can jab from range and take Garcia's left hook out of the equation entirely. It's a legitimate title fight with none of the drama, and that's exactly why it's the longest shot of the three.