Bentley Offers Benn Chance To Skip Queue For WBO Middleweight Title

Overview

• WBO middleweight champion Denzel Bentley publicly said he would let Conor Benn ‘skip the queue’ and accept a voluntary title fight because of the bout’s commercial appeal.
• Benn was stopped by Ryan Garcia inside two rounds in Las Vegas and was taken to hospital as a precaution, and he has said he will take time off to recover before returning at middleweight.
• Bentley argued Benn could perform better at 160 pounds after his punishing cut to 147, but warned that Benn showed exploitable defensive and technical flaws in the Garcia fight that Bentley believes he could target.
• The WBO has a mandatory challenger, Yoenli Hernandez, which may legally require Bentley’s next defence and delay any voluntary Benn fight until a sanctioning decision or scheduling agreement is reached.
• If both teams agree and Benn is medically cleared, promoters and the WBO would need to resolve contractual obligations and mandatories; the fight would carry big commercial value and strong domestic interest given Bentley’s recent elevation from interim to full champion.