Nelson: Benn's graduation day is here but Garcia could be a class above

Conor Benn must prove he belongs at world level in this weekend's fight against Ryan Garcia, but the WBC champion might be too fast and too sharp, says Sky Sports expert Johnny Nelson.

Benn will challenge for his first world title when he takes on Garcia for the WBC welterweight belt at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in the early hours of Sunday morning.

• Benn brands Garcia a 'bottler' after face-off no-show
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The Californian floored and outpointed Mario Barrios to become the new WBC champion in February, while he has previously fought elite champions such as Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis.

But Nelson is refusing to rule out a stunning victory for Benn.

"Never say never," Nelson told Sky Sports. "Right now, it seems like an impossible mountain to climb, because Conor Benn hasn't answered the questions that needed answering. Has he got that depth of experience? He hasn't. Can he dig deep? We know he can. Is he that level of a fighter? That's a question we don't know the answer to.

"What we do know is, historically, this has happened time and time again before. Lloyd Honeyghan going over to America and winning the world title shocked everybody. Conor's dad, Nigel Benn, going over and beating Iran Barkley. You know, Barkley had a bit of a name for himself; could Nigel do it? He did do it, and he did it after getting knocked out by Michael Watson.

"So, because the style is probably so crude and rugged, you'd think, has this kid [Conor Benn] got the class to become a world champion and be, what looks like, a class act?

"It just has to be his night. Obviously, you'd understand people leaning towards Ryan Garcia because Garcia is proven. Conor isn't. So you're going to give a man a chance to prove himself, not write him off."

Benn stepped up to middleweight to settle his rivalry with Chris Eubank Jr, losing the first fight on points before avenging the defeat with a dominant victory on the scorecards in the rematch.

The 29-year-old endured a tough weight cut to drop down towards 147lbs for the Garcia fight, but Nelson insists the all-action Brit will be a 'machine' in the ring.

"I don't believe the weight will take away his armoury," said Nelson. "It will obviously take away the natural strength that he had at a higher weight.

"He won't be completely depleted. I think he'll still be a machine. He'll be faster. He'll not be stronger. I think he'll have the speed, but not have the strength that he showed when we saw him box Eubank Jr.

"I think speed creates power, and the attrition, the number of shots that he throws, they are blistering.

"We've seen him take people out before; we've seen him concussively take people out.

"But I think speed creates power, and it's navigating that. It's about how he goes about that."

Benn floored Eubank Jr twice in their second fight, while he also demolished former world champion Chris Algieri, but Nelson believes Garcia will be a far more challenging proposition.

"This is graduation day for Conor Benn," said Nelson. "I expect Garcia to be a class above. I expect Garcia to take Conor seriously, and I expect him to go out and be fast and be sharp and be dominant.

"So, this is for Ryan Garcia to lose because if there's any scent of arrogance, complacency, or dismissiveness from him in regard to Conor, that will be his reckoning. That will be his downfall.

"This is one of those fights where you've got to be on your A-game. Ryan Garcia has to go in there and respect Conor. What I've seen and what I've heard doesn't tell me that; he thinks this is easy work.

"This might be just talk. It might be fighting talk, but I hope he's taking Conor seriously because if he hasn't, he's giving a man a chance who, on paper, shouldn't have one."