Garcia vs Benn LIVE: Start time, undercard, fight updates and results tonight

The negative take on Bunce’s point – that Benn and Garcia aren’t the best welterweights in the world – is this: These are two fighters whose places in a bout of this magnitude are very questionable.

Garcia is defending the belt he won in May, and his title shot against Mario Barrios came within nine months of his previous outing: a loss to Rolly Romero with the WBA strap on the line, when “King Ryan” was dropped and outpointed.

Go back one fight further, and Garcia did drop Devin Haney three times en route to a stunning decision win, but this victory was reversed upon the revelation that the 28-year-old had failed a drug test (having missed weight pre-fight, too).

Garcia has always proclaimed his innocence, and one might argue that he did his time by serving a one-year ban. But how he went from failing a drug test to fighting for a world title on his comeback, to losing but fighting for another world title in his next bout, is frankly near-impossible to justify.

And then there’s Benn’s own drug-test saga…

“Often in the boxing business, the best fights are not necessarily between the two best boxers at their weight – that is a longstanding truth,” Steve Bunce wrote in The Independent ahead of tonight’s main event.

“Benn against Garcia will be exceptional, thrilling, ugly, controversial on the night, and a rematch looks likely. It is that type of fight. Still, it will be a lot of fun.”

Full preview:

Subject to change; ‘C’ denotes champion:

Ryan Garcia (C) vs Conor Benn (WBC welterweight title)

Jai Opetaia (C) vs Noel Mikaelian (Zuffa cruiserweight title)

Da’Mazion Vanhouter vs Raphael Akpejiori (heavyweight)

Mark Magsayo vs Andres Cortes (lightweight)

Oswaldo Molina vs Pablo Rubio (super-featherweight)

Alexis Rocha def. Jose Carlos Ramirez via unanimous decision

Abel Gonzalez def. Raul Salomonv via unanimous decision

Vlad Panin def. Dakota Linger via fourth-round TKO

Sean Garcia def. Abraham Morales via majority decision

Garcia – 3/10

Benn –5/2

Draw – 16/1

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Garcia vs Benn and its undercard will stream live on DAZN in the UK and in most countries worldwide – at a pay-per-view cost of £24.99, or as part of the Ultimate Tier, which costs £24.99 a month.

In the US, Paramount+ will stream the action. The Independent will also provide live updates on fight night.

Garcia vs Benn will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas tonight.

The main card will begin at 1am BST on Sunday (5pm PT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET on Saturday), with main-event ring walks following at around 4am BST (8pm PT / 10 CT / 11pm ET on Saturday).

After failing a test in 2024, Garcia served a one-year ban, before winning the WBC title this February by dropping and outpointing Mario Barrios. Garcia, 28, maintained his innocence throughout the saga.

Benn, 29, also insisted he was innocent during his episode, but was provisionally suspended from boxing in the UK between 2022 and 2024. After he was cleared, he traded wins with bitter foe Chris Eubank Jr, before beating former world champion Regis Prograis in April. Still, when he fights Garcia, the Briton will be boxing at welterweight for the first time in two-and-a-half years.

Follow live updates and results from Garcia vs Benn and the undercard, right here.