Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn Live Updates, Highlights and Results From Tonight's Card

Well, that was quick.

The official end, thanks to Thomas Taylor's intervention, came at 1:25 of the second round and ended months of high-profile enmity between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn.

Benn, cordially, clapped as Joe Martinez made the official announcement.

"I've always had a right hand, but I've always had injuries," Garcia said. "These (the Benn and Mario Barrios wins) are the first two fights I've had no injuries to my right hand."

Garcia, who was visited in the locker room by Teofimo Lopez before the fight, called the newly-crowned WBA champ into the ring after the fight.

"I'll beat you're a** right now," Garcia said as Lopez flexed menacingly at ringside.

He then referenced Devin Haney and "undisputed" status with Haney—whom he knocked down three times in their 2024 matchup—smiling at ringside.

"He's got some stuff he's got to work on," analyst Andre Ward said, "but we'll talk about that another day. Conor Benn had no answers for Ryan Garcia tonight."

Garcia opened the first round working the perimeter while Benn tried to apply pressure and make things uncomfortable. Garcia landed left hooks and right hands as Benn approached, which was his pre-fight strategy. If Benn can take or avoid those blows consistently, it'll be interesting to see what Garcia looks like—energy-wise—after the first few rounds.

A right uppercut sent Benn backward early in the second, but it may have been a loss of balance. Soon after, a clean, hard right dropped Benn to the floor on his side. Garcia threw a dozen-plus punches as Benn reeled on the ropes and didn't fire back, and referee Thomas Taylor jumped in, perhaps quickly, to stop the fight.

"I thought the stoppage was a tad premature," analyst Max Kellerman said.

In case it matters to anyone before ring announcer Joe Martinez makes it official, the referee for the main event is Thomas Taylor and the ringside judges are Tim Cheatham, Max DeLuca and David Sutherland.

Benn began his ring walk at 11:14 p.m. ET.

"Can he rise to the occasion again at yet another higher level?" analyst Max Kellerman said.

It might still be a while—the ring walks were scheduled to begin at 11:50 p.m. ET—but there's only one fight left on the show now that Jai Opetaia has dispatched Noel Mikaelian.

Garcia has never come to a ring as a reigning champion, but he'll do so at T-Mobile Arena in front of a crowd that includes fight royalty like Terence Crawford, Devin Haney and UFC superstar Alex Pereira.

"The talking and the hype is done," said blow-by-blow man Joe Tessitore.

The official time was 1:30 of Round 9, when Opetaia, after controlling if not dominating for eight-plus rounds, became the first man to stop Mikaelian.

Mikaelian had lost three previous fights by narrow decisions.

Opetaia was approached in the ring by fellow unbeaten David Benavidez afterward and had a respectful exchange, though both claimed they'd win a prospective fight that analyst Max Kellerman called "the fight everyone wants to see in the cruiserweight division."

"There's only one monster," Benavidez said. "He's the boogeyman in the division but I'm the man they call when it's time to kill the boogeyman."

Mikaelian landed a clean counter right hand a minute into the seventh that prompted a stiff-legged Opetaia to hold and push Mikaelian into the ropes during a subsequent tie-up.

The champion seemed to regain his composure soon after and was pressing the action again, but the round was certainly Mikaelian's best so far.

A sharp left from Opetaia prompted Mikaelian to begin moving again early in the eighth, and Mikaelian was hit low 97 seconds into the round and took a brief respite to recover. Opetaia closed the eighth round with his most noticeable offensive rally, again winning each exchange and landing blows that looked to irritate—if not devastate—his opponent.

Mikaelian, for the first time, looked like a tangibly discouraged fighter in his corner after the eighth. A series of clean shots drove Mikaelian into the ropes late in the ninth and prompted referee Harvey Dock to issue a count, then wave the fight off after seeing Mikaelian's reaction.

It's his 31st win without a loss and his 24th KO.

Mikaelian landed yet another right hand from in close early in the fourth, but Opetaia responded with a hard left that clearly impacted his opponent a minute in.

Referee Harvey Dock warned Opetaia for holding and hitting soon after the champion landed his blow, which allowed Mikaelian a bit of extra time for recovery.

Opetaia, to start the fifth, was not only throwing and landing more punches, but his punches were having more visual impact—to both the head and body. Still, Mikaelian continued to land his right hands, whether from distance or as Opetaia engaged.

He's not moving his hands enough to win rounds, though.

It's certainly not a slaughter, but B/R has Opetaia up 6-0 and 60-54.

Opetaia, a southpaw, worked behind a right jab and had Mikaelian moving to his right, and possibly into Opetaia's powerful left hand. The two clashed heads several times and Opetaia's left cheek was swelling near his eye by the end of the first.

Mikaelian scored with a right seconds before the bell to end the second.

Opetaia carried the third with jabs and follow-up lefts, but Mikaelian continued to deliver right hands that were noticeable if not devastating.

"He sort of lulls you to sleep," analyst Andre Ward said. "Then all of a sudden, that right hand has got some heat on it."

Still, Opetaia's work rate has him up 3-0 and 30-27, though it's hardly a rout.

Jai Opetaia is the longest-reigning of the current crop of Ring Magazine champions; having earned the magazine's nod as the top man in July 2022.

It's his 10th career championship bout and first as a reigning titleholder for the Zuffa promotion. Mikaelian is listed as the WBC's champion on that organization's website, but the WBC is not sanctioning the Opetaia bout as a title bout for Mikaelian.

Mikaelian, who's 28-3 with 12 KOs, is coming off a two-fight series with Badou Jack, whom he lost to by decision in May 2025 before coming back to win on points in December.

Mikaelian began his ring walk at 10:07 p.m. ET.

We could be looking at stretching thanks to the early heavyweight KO, because the tentative scheduled ring walk for the co-main event was 10:55 p.m. when the show began.

Analyst Max Kellerman was hyping cards scheduled for later this month and recalling the sport's formal origins 200 years ago, before the broadcast cut to a shot of Jai Opetaia, in his locker room, gloved up and throwing warm-up punches.

Will they adjust to avoid a prolonged stretch of chatter. We'll see.

Analyst Max Kellerman said it:

"It's good to be excited about a young, American heavyweight."

Da'Mazion Vanhouter may be that guy after blowing away Raphael Akpejiori at 1:58 of Round 1, scoring two knockdowns along the way and winning inside of three minutes for the 10th time.

Vanhouter said his left shoulder is fine, even though analyst Max Kellerman had implied he might have separated the shoulder during a tie-up with Akpejiori between the knockdowns.

"This is what I wanted to do. This is what I signed up for," Vanhouter said. "If I didn't want to the best, I wouldn't be here. I want to be the greatest to ever put on a pair of gloves."

A big puncher with sound technique, Vanhouter landed a looping right hand that prompted Akpejiori to take a step back about 30 seconds into the first round. A knockdown came seconds soon after and Akpejiori rose at nine.

Vanhouter pressed forward with a flurry that seemed destined to prompt a stoppage from Robert Hoyle, then appeared to injure his left arm, but continued to deliver hard right hands that dumped Akpejiori to the floor and drew the stoppage.

It's his 10th and ninth in less than three minutes for a guy who started his pro career as a 154-pounder in 2022.

Keep an eye on him. You'll be hearing his name.

It's time for the heavyweights.

African import Raphael Akpejiori, a late arrival to boxing, faces unbeaten KO artist Da'Mazion Vanhouter in a bout that's scheduled for eight rounds.

Key word: Scheduled.

Akpejiori, 35, is 19-3 with 18 KOs while Vanhouter, just 21, is 12-0 with nine KOs, including eight inside of one round.

We're feeling some validation after all three scorecards matched B/R's 97-93 tally.

It's a win for Andres Cortes, who improved to 30-0 as a pro.

"Everybody knows how good I am," he said. "My time is coming."

Neither man landed a defining shot in the final three minutes, but Cortes seemed determined to regain the aggressive momentum he'd had earlier. Magsayo landed a two-shot combination along the ropes with a minute left but didn't really do enough to carry the round, which B/R gave to Cortes.

On our card, it's 97-93, or 7-3 in rounds.

We'll see what Eric Cheek, Chris Migliore and David Sutherland have to say.

Magsayo was hit and touched his gloves to the canvas again, but it was immediately waved as a non-knockdown. Still, it seems as if he's not enjoying the physical nature of the fight.

Magsayo moved his hands and stood his ground early in the eighth and Cortes was suddenly noticeably bleeding from a cut over his right eye that may have been sustained in the seventh. It wasn't a dominant round, but probably the Filipino's best so far.

Cortes was wobbled in the final 30 seconds of the ninth, the first time he's been visibly impacted in the fight. A late rally for Magsayo.

Still, Cortes has won six of nine rounds and has an 87-84 lead heading to the 10th.

Cortes scored with a jolting counter right as Magsayo charged in early in the fourth. Another knockdown, this time a more legit-looking one, was ruled when Cortes subsequently landed a cuffing right hand to the head and Magsayo bent and touched glove to mat.

The commission again overruled the referee and declared it a non-knockdown.

Cortes scored well from distance and landed a hard three-punch combination, including a blow to the body, midway through the fifth. The unbeaten Nevada resident is becoming the consistent aggressor and is landing shots that noticeably move his foe.

Magsayo was back on the front foot in the sixth, but Cortes moved effectively and countered well. Magsayo, the former featherweight in against a career lightweight, hasn't been able to land shots that have had significant impact.

It's Cortes big, 5-1 in rounds and 59-55 on points, through six on the B/R scorecard.

Magsayo, who held a title at 126 pounds for six months in 2022, came out aggressively with a hard left jab in the opening round, but Cortes, looking a little fleshy at 135 pounds, rebounded nicely behind a sharp left jab of his own and nimble footwork.

Magsayo found his rhythm, particularly with snapping left hooks to the head and body, in the opening half of Round 2, before Cortes, again, fared well in the late going. Cortes took the initiative early in the third and landed a hard overhand right to Magsayo's head that's been the most memorable punch of the fight so far.

Cortes landed a body punch in the third that prompted Magsayo to bend as he was pushed by Cortes and touch his right glove to the canvas. Referee Celestino Diaz ruled a knockdown and gave Magsayo an 8-count once he rose but the referee was overruled by the commission, using replay.

Cortes is up 2-1 in rounds on the B/R card through three.

The opening fight on the main card, Magsayo vs. Cortes, is essentially a pick 'em according to the linemakers at DraftKings. Meanwhile, heavyweight Raphael Akpejiori (+900), cruiserweight Noel Mikaelian (+700) and Benn (+250) are significant underdogs.

If you're feeling particularly lucky, a three-fight parlay on the three B-sides would yield a $27,900 windfall for a $100 outlay.

The main card gets started with a 10-rounder at lightweight matching Filipino import Mark Magsayo, 31, who's 29-2 with 19 KOs and on a five-fight heater, against unbeaten 29-year-old Las Vegas native Andres Cortes, who's 25-0 with 13 KOs and last fought in April.

Celestino Ruiz is the referee and Eric Cheek, Chris Migliore and David Sutherland are the judges.

Boxing is hard enough.

Boxing under a cloud pf personal tragedy seems impossible.

But Jai Opetaia will try to endure in Saturday's co-main event.

Terence Crawford will be a Hall of Famer in Canastota the second he's eligible.

But he had a hard time getting past security in Las Vegas.

Conor Benn had a rough week prior to stepping on the scale to weigh-in for Saturday's welterweight title fight.

But that didn't keep him from acknowledging fans and posing for pictures as he walked amongst them.

At least one Garcia will get a win Saturday.

Ryan's younger brother, Sean, picked up a win on the undercard when he topped Abraham Morales by a majority decision.

Can the brothers go 2-0? Stand by.

Ryan Garcia called in a high-profile pal for Friday's weigh-in machinations.

Wrestling superstar Rey Mysterio accompanied "King Ry" to the stage that featured the ceremonial scale on Friday and mugged for pictures with him afterward.

OK, let's face it. We all want this to happen, right?

Oscar De La Hoya sat down with former 168-pound champ Carl Froch to discuss what might happen if Dana White (a long-time verbal nemesis) decided to step up to the Golden Boy at some point this weekend.

De La Hoya claimed a hands-only confrontation would be no problem thanks to his left jab, but said "I'd be done" if White took things to the ground.

Ryan Garcia's rancorous relationship with promoter Oscar De La Hoya is no secret and has been front-page (boxing) news for a while now.

Garcia's fight with Benn is apparently his last fight under his Golden Boy contract, but the relationship may not go quite that quietly.

De La Hoya is apparently in Vegas and took to social media to suggest he may have a surprise in store for Saturday night.

The main-event fighters jawed for weeks about whether or not Conor Benn would be able to boil himself down to the 147-pound welterweight limit.

He'd been 150 pounds or more in four of his five most recent fights and hadn't been 147 or below since 2022.

Not only did he hit the number, actually coming in at a trim 146, he immediately re-climbed the weight ladder after the official weight was committed to paper.

Backstage footage from Team Benn showed that the fighter had rehydrated better than 30 pounds, to nearly 180 pounds, within just hours of his appearance.

But Garcia said at Thursday's press conference that Benn was setting himself up for physical damage because his brain wouldn't rehydrate as fast as his body.

Will it matter in the ring? We'll see.