At Liverpool’s Echo Arena, Conor Benn, son of English former world champion icon Nigel Benn, stepped up in class against former world champion Chris Algieri in the Welterweight division.
Benn, who so far has been very much in his fathers shadow took a big step out of it and into an air of respectability, when he dominated then brutally knocked out Algieri in the 4th round. Algieri started as expected, moving and attempting to box around the ring, a style which saw him beat Ruslan Provodnikov for the WBO Super Lightweight title in 2014. However, the American was consistently outflanked by Benn, whose impressive head-body combinations, footwork and upper body movement saw him regularly tagging Algieri.
In the second round, Algieri hit the canvas and nearly rolled out of the ropes in dramatic fashion from a half punch half trip which had him questioning the legitimacy of the knock down. In the 4th round, Benn closed the show with an exceptional right hand to the chin which emphatically knocked Algieri out completely, with a 10 count being forgoed by the ref, who opted immediately to call for medical assistance.
Benn is now very much on his way for a world title challenge, with a win like this it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t deserve one, although the division is stacked with Errol Spence Jr & Terence Crawford, both of whom would make any top 10 pound for pound list.