Ryan Garcia destroys Conor Benn with brutal second-round TKO to retain WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas showdown

Ryan Garcia sealed a stunning second-round TKO win over Conor Benn in Las Vegas on Saturday night, retaining his WBC welterweight title in the process.

Benn ran blindly to the slaughter – in a fight which was always a lunge too far – and was left groveling on hands and knees at the feet of the new face of American and Mexican boxing.

Garcia took just four minutes and 25 seconds to devastate and humiliate the upstart son of Nigel the great.

Benn’s predictable sally forth from the first bell was as pointless, desperate and doomed to disaster as the Charge of the Light Brigade.

He was stopped in his track by the barrage of left hooks which have taken Garcia to the welterweight championship of the world, over which he will reign for as long as he likes.

That first round was but a prelude to the carnage to come in the 85 seconds which the first round lasted. A punishment doubled by the dynamite which also explodes from Garcia’s right fist.

Garcia took just four minutes and 25 seconds to devastate and humiliate the British star

The 28-year-old retained his WBC welterweight title after the devastating display in Sin City

Conor was reduced to crawling on the canvas by a two-fisted assault to which he had no answer. When he staggered drunkenly to his feet referee Thomas Taylor looked long and hard into his glazed eyes before letting him carry on.

The kill was mercifully swift. A combination of lefts and rights which the third man in the ring could no longer ignore. Any more and Benn would have heading to hospital.

This is a warning which his handlers must not forget. This was fight too much, too soon. As Garcia had warned he done nothing to deserve the tilt at the WBC belt his father had worn with such pride. 

Nor his elevation the top of a bill in the T-Mobile arena nor in this Mecca of boxing Whether he will ever be ready to mix with the company of prize-ring loyalty is doubtful.

He was not only outclassed, outsped an out-thought but was treated to punching of almighty power with which his dad could not gift him.

The last 24 hours before the first bell had been consumed by doom-casts about Benn’s drastic weight draining to reach the welter limit of 147 lbs. 

Followed by extraordinary claims that he had put on more than two stones following Friday’s weigh-in which, if authentic, would have catapulted him into the ring three divisions even heavier than the super-middleweights.

The truth would out as his robe slipped off. But if he had gorged himself between stepping on the scales and the first bell that might done him much good. Such drastic shifts in poundage are as debilitating as dehydration.

If this was another of the mind games played by Benn and Garcia throughout the wind up and build up it seemed doubtful that any of that would have a material effect on the fight itself. Would anyone in this hardest of all games risk being beaten by indigestion.

Conor was reduced to crawling on the canvas by an assault to which he had no answer

The referee swiftly waved off the bout after a barrage of punches from the American star

The substantive issue was Garcia’s boxing class and knock out power versus Benn’s frenzy and punch resistance.

For the high-paying fans – Benn’s long-haulers from the old country and Garcia’s Gen Z armies of groups from his two nations of identification the US and Mexico – what mattered most was that both delivered the barn-burner of a fight they promised.

Quite beautifully those three congregations fell silent together in commemoration of one boxer who never gave in, never gave up, never delivered a disappointing fight, never offended anyone, never betrayed a friend.

The giant screens in the 02 went into black and white mode for a nostalgic picture of Ricky Hatton who died too young as the previous British fighter to top the bill in what was until recently the fight capital of the world.

Over to you Master Benn.

Garcia came to the ring to the strains of a patriotic Mexican song, wrapped in that country’s flag and to rapturous acclaim from the baying Amex majority in the house. 

Unabashed and as expected Benn went instantly on the offensive only to be met by barrage of Garcia’s trademark left hooks. 

Less than three minutes later it was all over.