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2 years agoon
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Michael WoodsWell, wasn't that impressive? Conor Benn started strong and finished the same, in stunningly quick fashion on Saturday night in London, as he steamrolled Samuel Vargas at 1:20 of the opening frame of a Matchroom main event.
Right away, you saw that Benn's hand speed looked ON, he was moving well, he looked dialed in at Wembley, in a flow, and in the mood to get back to the dressing room early.
After a right landed almost clean, and then another found home, the Everlast rep Conor Benn saw that there were openings to take advantage of, now. The welterweight ripped off nearly 20 shots, and the ref had to step in and pull the plug on Vargas, who was caught on the ropes.
There were plenty of folks liking Vargas in the underdog slot coming in.
See the release below, and you'll see that Benn wants Amir Khan. I will say right now, this Benn is beyond the Khan of today. I think it's a smart bet that Conor would drop and stop Amir. I'd rather see Benn matched with Vergil Ortiz Jr, if he thinks that's winnable for him.
BRUTAL BENN BLITZES VARGAS IN ONE ROUND
‘The Destroyer' calls out Amir Khan after emphatic win
12 x 3 mins WBA Continental Welterweight Title
CONOR BENN WTKO1 (1:20) v SAMUEL VARGAS
(Essex, England) (Bogota, Colombia)
Conor Benn wiped out Samuel Vargas inside the opening round to retain his WBA Continental Welterweight Title at the Copper Box Arena in London, live on Sky Sports in the UK and on DAZN in the U.S. and more than 200 countries and territories.
‘The Destroyer' lived up to his name as he took just 1 minute and 20 seconds to progress to 18-0 with twelve knockouts, sending out a brutal warning to his Welterweight rivals.
The unbeaten 24-year-old unloaded a torrent of spiteful shots that left Vargas reeling on the ropes, prompting the referee to swiftly wave it off, and Benn quickly expressed his desire for a big domestic clash with Khan.
“I train hard for it,” said Conor Benn. “Again, you’re talking levels. It shows the level I’m at. Errol Spence, Danny Garcia, Vergil Ortiz, Amir Khan – nobody banged him out like that. First round, first round! He came and he was game. He took my belt off me in the week and I had a little stare down with him.
“He was telling me he was ready to fight, and he was talking a good game. He said I had no power. It’s irrelevant because a lot of people can talk. My shots were landing flush. You could tell they were hurting him. When I first hit him it landed swiftly and I thought, ‘right, this is going to be a much quicker night than I thought’.
“I’ve been working on my power with my strength and conditioning coach Dan Lawrence. We’ve been working with Tony, endless hours. First to arrive last to leave. He’s always pushing me. I told you lot I’d knock him out in the first round. I was cool, calm and collected. I work so hard.
“Give me Amir Khan. I know he's too busy on reality TV. If he wants it, he can have it. I can deal with pressure. I can cope with it. I can live with it, no problem. I'm ready for the top dogs – Shawn Porter, Adrien Broner? Forget the word prospect,” said Conor Benn, “I ain’t a prospect no more.”
Editor/publisher Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the thought to be impregnable Mike Tyson. The Brooklyn-based journalist Woods has covered the sport since then, for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, ESPN New York, RING, and he was editor of TheSweetScience.com from 2007-2015. Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live since 2017. He now does work for PROBOX TV, the first truly global boxing network.