Welterweight prospect Conor ‘The Destroyer’ Benn 17-0 (11) passed the toughest test of his career when he scored a clear-cut 10 round unanimous points decision over Germany’s Sebastian Formella 22-2 (10) at The SSE Arena in Wembley, London on Saturday night.
The 24-year-old started fast and never took his foot off the gas, surprising Formella with his activity, speed and ability to cut off the ring.
Benn showed a good kit of punches, particularly the jab which he used to good effect, along with a consistent body attack and right hands over the top.
The one-way traffic continued throughout the fight with Formella, 33, unable to mount any sustained attack of his own.
At the final bell judge Ian John Lewis scored the bout 99-91, while judges Victor Loughlin and Robert Williams had the fight 99-92 and 100-91 respectively.
The bout was expected to be a step up in class for Benn, who was returning to the ring after more than a year on the sidelines. Formella was coming off a 12-round points loss to former world champion Shawn Porter in Los Angeles in August.
“I could have done more than that, I’ve had harder spars than that,” Benn said. “I’ve just been training hard and every time I get better. You lot think I am mucking about when I say I am working hard, but it’s not all fun and games anymore. It’s business.
“I hit him with a straight one-two in round nine and I thought ‘this geezer is tough’. You heard him wincing when I was hitting him to the body, but I am not going to blow everyone out; I wear them down, exactly what I did tonight.
“I’ve still got loads of gears left. I went through more gears with [Cedrick] Peynaud. When I am bang in trouble, that’s when you will see the best of me. I was on top there and I am not an on top fighter, I fight better when I am not on top. When the going really gets tough for me, that’s when you will really see me at it.”
Broadcast commentator and former world champion Johnny Nelson praised Benn for his continued improvement with each and every fight.
“Every time Conor has time out, you see the work he has put in,” Nelson said. “To me, that’s a career-best performance as a professional.”
Benn is expected to have one more fight before being matched with Olympian Josh Kelly 10-0-1 (6), who will face David Avanesyan 26-3-1 (14) first.
“You’ve got all these fighters calling me out, I am only interested in one fight and that’s Josh Kelly,” Benn said.
“You can forget all these other bods, all these other people calling me out because they have got loads of Instagram followers. I don’t care. They ain’t benefitted me, so I don’t want it. The only big domestic I want is Kelly.
“And as for people saying I am scared and all that. Stop talking rubbish. Do I look like a scared fighter? Nah.
“They should have taken their chance when they could. My stock’s on the up and it isn’t coming down any time soon.”
Kelly’s trainer Adam Booth was open to the fight.
“Firstly, congratulations to Conor,” he said. “He is adding to his game rapidly, and he has to, because he has big fights on his mind.
“Josh will fight anyone. Domestically the scene is hot.”
Promoter Eddie Heard added: “That is a massive fight in the summer!”
