Conor Benn signing to Zuffa Boxing was more about style than substance, as his fight announcement shows.
Last week, Benn and Zuffa Boxing shook up the game by announcing that his next fight would happen in the brand new promotion.
The $15 million price tag that’s reportedly hanging over this one-fight deal then led people to have high expectations for who he would face in his next outing.
Regis Prograis being Benn’s opponent, as announced earlier today, isn’t a nasty step for the Brit nevertheless it does explain why the promotion has spent a lot on a fighter that might be a free agent again in a couple of months.
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Conor Benn’s Zuffa Boxing signing was a shock tactic to make short-term impressions
There have been some barely puzzled reactions to Conor Benn’s Zuffa Boxing debut being announced for April 11.
He’ll be facing Regis Prograis within the co-main event of a card headlined by Tyson Fury’s comeback fight on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.
That is somewhat surprising but in turn, it shows that the promotion signing Benn for an enormous one-fight payday was more in regards to the impact it had last week than any long-term plans.
TKO president Mark Shapiro has already said that Sela, led by Turki Alalshikh, are those who’re covering the purse, meaning that that is somewhat of a free hit for Zuffa Boxing.
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That being said, having him in a co-main event in a fight that isn’t exactly a blockbuster makes it hard to see what they gain from this aside from the shock factor of the announcement, especially considering that is his one and only contracted bout.
It makes total sense as a move for Benn given the opponent, purse, and indisputable fact that he’ll be free to explore other options very soon.
For Zuffa Boxing, it looks like this signing was motivated by sending a message to their rivals that nobody on their rosters is protected, and that definitely worked.
It should’ve been obvious by the one-fight nature of the deal that the promotion isn’t putting all their chips on Benn, selecting as a substitute to offer their opponents a take a look at the sort of tricks they’ve got up their sleeves.