Ryan Garcia appearance sparks concern as he skips Conor Benn face-off

09:49, 09 Sep 2026Updated 09:52, 09 Sep 2026

Ryan Garcia has sparked concern just days before his fight with Conor Benn after he decided to skip their face-off on Tuesday evening.

The pair will meet in a welterweight showdown on Saturday night in Las Vegas - with Garcia set to put his WBC welterweight title on the line. The Sin City showdown will mark Benn's first fight at welterweight since brutally dismantling Chris van Heerden back in 2022.

Just days before Benn and Garcia are due to trade leather, it would appear that the American has ramped up the mind games after he was a no-show for the first face-off. The 28-year-old was scheduled to attend a photo opportunity in Las Vegas, but decided to give it a miss, leaving Benn on his own.

Luckily for Benn, his father was right by his side and ended up pretending to face off with his son. Just moments later, though, Benn stated that his upcoming rival "didn't turn up," before adding: "I apologise for Ryan doing what Ryan does and bottling it. We turn up, we're here, ready for the face-off. Come Saturday, he's in for a war."

After failing to turn up, it did not take long for Garcia to poke fun at Benn after taking to Instagram. "Nice relaxing time as Conor waste time showing up to a face off. Back to the sauna you go, sausage getting cooked every way," he wrote.

There are a few who are speculating that Garcia may be having some trouble cutting weight - hence the no-show on Tuesday evening. A video emerged of the American scrapper doing an interview and looking rather drained - just a few days before having to step on the scales. "Damn he looks so drawn out compared to going into the @Realdevinhaney fight…that’s crazy," said one fan.

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Another wrote: "Bro looks almost worse than Conor lmao both these dudes should have just made the fight at 154." A third replied: "Ryan is currently in a Sauna trying to make weight."

Benn will get the chance to go head-to-head on Thursday evening for their scheduled press conference, before facing off one final time before fight night on Friday for their official weigh-ins.

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