4 Best Opponents for Ryan Garcia After Win vs. Conor Benn

It's Ryan Garcia's world. We're all just living in it.

Again.

Though he's long been a high-profile fighter on the world stage, "King Ry" defended an official sanctioning body title for the first time on Saturday night in Las Vegas when he TKO'ed Conor Benn in the second round of Saturday's WBC welterweight title match.

Needless to say, the victory has cranked up Team Garcia's claim that their man is the "face of boxing," and it also has several would-be opponents salivating at the cash available for a future date with the camera-friendly champion.

B/R's fight staff took a look at that field through our filters of who it could be and probably will be, alongside who we wish it would be, and the choice that would give the internet a run for its money.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Who It Could Be: Teofimo Lopez

Yeah, let's be honest. We'd take this one all day long.

If the powers that be in Mexico City (WBC) and Panama City (WBA) see fit to let Garcia bypass all obligations to engage in a unification match, we'll be happy to toss Teofimo Lopez into the ring as the next logical opponent.

Lopez, after all, is the WBA champ after taking apart now-former champ Rolando Romero over 12 rounds last month. Romero, for those who've forgotten, became the WBA champ in May 2025 when he fought and beat Garcia in New York City.

So it'd be hard to come up with a scrap that makes more sense.

Add to it the fact that Lopez, with a fake beard and all, was at the final pre-fight press conference before Garcia fought Benn, and announced his presence by saying, "I'm here, motherf-kers."

Who It Probably Will Be: Souleymane Cissokho

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But yeah, it's still boxing.

Which means we still may not get what we need or want.

So while it'd be great to see Garcia head from Benn to Lopez with two belts on the line, it's at least as likely (if not more so) that WBC boss Mauricio Sulaiman insists it's in the best interest of his organization to order Garcia to fight former mandatory challenger (and current No. 2 contender) Souleymane Cissokho.

A cursory search indicates that Cissokho is a former French Olympian with an 18-0 record and nine KOs and was the WBC's mandatory challenger at welterweight by virtue of an eliminator win in 2025, but was sidestepped by Sulaiman and Co. to allow Garcia to get his title-winning try against Mario Barrios in February.

The French Boxing Federation submitted a formal protest to the WBC on Cissokho's behalf to address the bypass, and Sulaiman said his organization would review and consider the specific situation. It didn't stop Sulaiman from appearing with the WBC belt at Garcia-Benn events, but would it really surprise anyone if he decided now was the time to put his foot down for the sake of order?

Yeah, us neither.

Who We Wish It Would Be: Devin Haney

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As we said earlier, we'll happily take Teofimo Lopez as Garcia's next foe.

But if beggars can indeed be choosers, and with all due respect to one three-division champion, we'd rather skip the "Takeover" and head straight to another triple-crown champ who's got legitimate history with Garcia and his crew.

Devin Haney had already won belts at 135 and 140 before moving to welterweight and competitively undressing previously unbeaten WBO champ Brian Norman Jr. last fall in Saudi Arabia. Haney's beef with Garcia began in the spring of 2024 in Brooklyn, when, while Haney was defending his WBC title at 140, Garcia bounced him off the canvas three times on the way to a majority-decision win.

That result was reduced to a no contest when Garcia tested positive for ostarine, reinstating Haney's "unbeaten" record and ratcheting the rivalry up a few notches.

Evidence that it's still on Garcia's mind? At Thursday's final formal press conference before the fight with Benn, "King Ry" answered a question about future weight climbs by saying, "I don't really like to think too far ahead. I'm very comfortable at 147. I'm going to be here a long time. Hopefully, I can kick Devin Haney's a** again."

What Would Break the Internet: Jake Paul

Into every slide about breaking the internet, a little Jake Paul must fall.

And it helps here because Garcia and the "Problem Child" have had each other's names in their mouths in the past, with Garcia reportedly turning down a multi-million-dollar offer to fight, instead choosing to focus on real boxing, and Paul suggesting Garcia's boxing skills were less than elite.

They've settled down lately and actually come off as something approaching respectful toward one another, but there's always hope that Garcia's win over Benn will get his competitive dander up or crank up Paul's fighter envy a little bit.

As recently as March, after Garcia had beaten Mario Barrios in late February, Paul was still suggesting the idea was palateable.

"I never fought him, but I would fight Ryan for sure," Paul said. "I thought his performance was really good and probably one of the best he's looked in recent times. Despite our beef in the past, I was very happy for him."