Frank Smith believes Benn will return to Zuffa.
On Saturday, we saw the return of Tyson Fury, with “The Gypsy King” almost scoring a complete shutout across the board over Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other than Fury’s comeback, though, there was other intriguing heavyweight action on the undercard. The first being an absorbing contest between Frazer Clarke and Justis Huni, and the second being a British title fight between Richard Riakporhe and Jeamie TKV.
However, it was the only non-heavyweight fight on the main card that perhaps peaked people’s interests the most, and that was the co-main event between Conor Benn and Regis Prograis.
This was Benn’s first fight since signing with Zuffa Boxing, and it was also his first since his rematch victory over Chris Eubank Jr. Prograis, meanwhile, was coming off of a win over Joseph Diaz.
Both fighters were fighting at a different weight from their last contests. At a catchweight of 150 pounds, Benn had dropped ten pounds and Prograis had put on six.
And while Benn won convincingly, he didn’t do anything that particularly wowed the boxing public. Given that Prograis was 37 and reportedly injured heading in (something Prograis admitted afterwards), this didn’t convince a lot of people about Benn’s true quality.
The most bizarre aspect of the fight, though, was that it was aparrently the only fight in Benn’s one-fight deal with Zuffa, and he was being paid $15 million for it.
This just didn’t make sense to fans of the sport, and the news after the fight that Benn is now a free agent only further confused.
One man who doesn’t believe the reports of Benn’s free agency is Frank Smith, the CEO of Matchroom Boxing.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Smith stated, “I mean, if you believe that he’s been paid $15 million for a one-fight deal in a 10-round warm-up fight at 150 pounds against a guy we wouldn’t have put him in against, then you know, good luck to you.”
Smith then added, “If it is a one-fight deal and they’re payin’ him that much money, then you know, the shareholders at TKO [the parent company of Zuffa] need to have a good look at what they were doin’.”
It has been reported that Benn will be returning on Netflix in August in a WBC welterweight title fight against Ryan Garcia. It will be interesting to see who he will be signed to if that fight takes place.
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