Benn blows away van Heerden in 2nd round, then comes talk of fight vs. Khan
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As rising welterweight star Conor Benn was heading into his fight with Chris van Heerden much of the discussion focused on whether Benn could be troubled by facing a southpaw.
The answer? A resounding no.
After a competitive first round, Benn blew van Heerden away with an onslaught of shots in a crushing second-round knockout in their scheduled 12-rounder on Saturday in the main event of the Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN at AO Arena in Manchester, England.
Benn, the son of British legend and two-division champion Nigel Benn, scored his second devastating knockout in a row. On Dec. 11, Benn flattened former junior welterweight titlist Chris Algieri in the fourth round.
Some thought van Heerden’s left-handed stance would be a problem for Benn, but he handled it just fine and then some.
“Everybody thought a southpaw would be a problem but I’ll beat anyone put in front of me,” Benn said. “I stand by that. Anyone they put in front of me I’ll deal with — southpaw, orthodox, boxer, puncher.”
As Benn made that comment he was standing next to former unified junior welterweight titlist and longtime welterweight contender Amir Khan, who was a spectator at ringside and invited into the ring by Benn and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn in an obvious effort to try get a feel for the interest in an all-British fight between Benn and Khan.
Van Heerden, with his awkward style and movement, made the opening round close and did the same in the opening moments of the second round until the patient and poised Benn hammered him with a straight right hand that rocked van Heerden.
Benn continued to fire punches, about eight more, including a hard left that badly hurt van Heerden and made him cover up and then a short right hand that caught him clean on the jaw, pounding him to the mat.
Van Heerden got to all fours but was in rough shape and referee Steve Gray waved off the fight at 59 seconds as the pro-Benn crowd cheered wildly.
“This used to be a gimmick. This is now an elite world welterweight fighter. He’s gonna go on and become a world champion.” — Eddie Hearn on Conor Benn
Whatever trickiness van Heerden was supposed to present never materialized and Benn (21-0, 14 KOs), 25, of England, had himself another impressive victory.
Van Heerden (28-3-1, 12 KOs), 34, a South Africa native fighting out of Santa Monica, California, had only been stopped once previously, in the eighth round in 2015 by Errol Spence Jr., before Spence would go on to win the IBF welterweight title in 2017.
Van Heerden was fighting for the first time since a first-round no decision against 2020 prospect of the year Jaron Ennis in December 2020 in a fight that ended when van Heerden was unable to continue after suffering a bad cut from an accidental head butt.
Khan’s presence in the ring with Benn after was friendly. They were both all smiles.
“I came here today just to enjoy the boxing,” Khan said. “I enjoyed it like everyone else. I’m a boxing fan. He put on a great performance.”
But does he want to fight Benn?
“At the moment I’m spending time with the family. Who knows? I might announce (my retirement) tomorrow. I might announce something in the next couple of months,” Khan said. “I’m enjoying the time off at the moment and then once the hunger comes back again let’s see where we go. Let’s see what happens.”
Khan (34-6, 21 KOs), 35, came off a 2½-year layoff to face British rival and former welterweight titlist Kell Brook (40-3, 28 KOs), 35, on Feb. 19, also at AO Arena in Manchester, in a fight long past when it would have been very meaningful. But they did big business and Brook destroyed Khan with ease by sixth-round knockout. Khan talked about retiring after the fight but soon said he would probably fight on.
Khan may be a shadow of when he was at his best, but Benn wouldn’t turn down the fight.
“If achieve half of what this man achieved I’ll be happy,” Benn said. “Idols to rivals. Every young up and coming fighter wants to challenge himself. That’s all that is.”
Then Khan and Benn asked the crowd if they wanted to see the fight and they were met with huge cheers.
“Amir was here to support tonight,” Hearn said. “We’ll see what happens in the future. The most important thing next for Conor Benn is a big, big fight and a big step up. The test tonight was to experience the southpaw Chris van Heerden. It took one round for him to get used to that before he absolutely demolished him. When you demolish the opposition you need to make jumps. I think the progression of Conor Benn has been tremendous.
“We’ve boxed him all over the country. Great crowd in Liverpool last time out, great crowd in Manchester tonight as well. This is a true star of British boxing. This could be a global star. This used to be a gimmick. This is now an elite world welterweight fighter. He’s gonna go on and become a world champion. Now we got to step up the opposition. He’s had a great development.”
Hearn said it would not be Khan next because if he comes back that would not be until late in the year. For a summer fight for Benn, Hearn said he would like to make fights with anybody from a list of Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, David Avanesyan and Brook.
“We want a big fight, a marquee fight and take him back to London and fill up The O2,” Hearn said. “He’s a superstar and he’s really, really good. We would take a lot of these top guys now. It’s time for a serious test this summer.
“Kell Brook, I think that’s the perfect fight to establish who’s the best welterweight in Britain. Kell Brook wants to cash out. We’ll try to get him to cash out. He asked for 10 million quid. That’s steep even by our standards. That tells me he don’t want to fight, but we’ll see.
Benn said he is open to Khan, Brook or the other names Hearn mentioned.
“If you want the big British domestic (fights) that’s Brook or Khan. I don’t think any of them fancy it. It’s all just talk,” Benn said. “If not them, we push on.”
Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
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Khan was a mismatch for Benn before being smashed up by Brook - even more so now. Khan is probably equally or more washed up than Van Heerden - so this potential fight is an absolute waste of time.
Another pretend step up for Benn 😐
Having watched Benn on undercards the past few years I’ll admit I couldn’t see this coming; he’s developed into a true world class fighter. It’s impressive to watch his last 3-4 fights and see the maturation.
As for a Khan fight, that’s just Eddie not having access to the top 147guys, and needing to keep Connor happy with a fat payday. The match up is horrendous and should be called out as such. Dan, this is your substack… you don’t have to just report the news here! Call bullshit on this and beat that drum so the very idea gets drown out by the press who promise to shit all over it. It would be an embarrassment for the sport.