Ryan Garcia And Conor Benn Look To Escape Shadows of Oscar De La Hoya & Nigel Benn

The pictures show Oscar De La Hoya and Ryan Garcia standing over fallen opponents, 26 years apart. At that time in their careers, both were undefeated and impressively climbing the ranks – De La Hoya having just planted Jorge Paez in 1994, and Garcia having done the same to Francisco Fonseca in 2020.

The images are strikingly similar. They are the most influential Mexican-American boxers of their time, looking powerful and dominant. But the two SoCal-based pugilists have more than just two photos in common. They are intrinsically linked, not only because of their looks, backgrounds and paths, but because De La Hoya is Garcia’s promoter and one-time mentor.

And maybe that’s what Saturday is about, not only for Garcia, but for his upcoming opponent, Conor Benn: breaking free. Benn is also fighting to escape the long shadow of a longtime confidant – his father, Nigel Benn – as the two popular pugilists prepare to meet Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in what is the biggest fight of 2026.

CHASING A GOLDEN PAST

De La Hoya, a 1992 Olympic gold medalist, must have seen Garcia as the next “Golden Boy” when he signed him to a contract with his Golden Boy Promotions in 2016. Garcia was also an accomplished amateur who showed flashes of brilliance as a pro. But he wasn’t Oscar. So De La Hoya took Garcia under his wing, providing tutelage and mentorship.

The plan worked to perfection. Like De La Hoya, Garcia fought often (six times in 2017, four times in 2018) and developed a huge following. Unlike Oscar – who was more reserved and business-like early in his career – Ryan was brash and unpredictable, and his social media presence took on a life of its own.

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In 2021, Garcia passed his first acid test, knocking out Luke Campbell with a vicious body shot in round seven. It earned him a showdown with fellow undefeated Gervonta “Tank” Davis in 2023. After a solid start, Garcia was dropped and eventually knocked out with a body shot himself. And that’s when cracks in his relationship with De La Hoya began to show themselves.

Three years later, the De La Hoya-Garcia relationship is frosty at best. The two work together (minimally, it seems), but the days of De La Hoya mentoring Garcia are over. There have been legal issues and disputes about promotional rights and Twitter wars, among other things. These days, it appears Garcia, 25-2 (20 knockouts), is doing things without Oscar’s input, often successfully. Despite losses to Davis and to ‘Rolly’ Romero last year and testing positive for the banned substance ostarine in 2024 (resulting in a year-long suspension and rendering his decision over Devin Haney a No Contest), Garcia’s February dismantling of Mario Barrios to win the WBC welterweight title revitalized his career and set him up for Saturday’s showdown with Benn.

THE LEGACY OF THE DARK DESTROYER

Benn, meanwhile, comes directly from boxing royalty. His father was a two-division world champion in the 1990s, with victories over Iran Barkley and Gerald McClellan. His trilogy with Chris Eubank is arguably the greatest British rivalry in boxing history. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in June.

Conor, 25-1 (14 KOs), has been fighting to meet those lofty standards since turning pro in 2016. Never blessed with his father’s power or skills, “The Destroyer” (as opposed to his dad, the “Dark Destroyer”), has made a career of relying on conditioning, activity and determination.

After an undefeated start, Benn hit his stride in 2021, knocking out Samuel Vargas, outpointing Adrian Granados and overwhelming former champ Chris Algieri. A rebirth of the Benn-Eubank rivalry was proposed for 2022, as Conor was slated to meet Eubank’s son, Chris Eubank Jr. But Benn tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene, forcing the fight to be scrapped.

He was finally matched with Eubank Jr. in April 2025 and the two delivered the Fight of the Year, with Eubank Jr. winning a decision. They rematched in November 2025, and Benn turned in the best performance of his career, dominating Eubank Jr. to win a unanimous decision.

This past April, Benn outpointed Regis Prograis to set up the Garcia fight.

While Conor’s boxing career progressed, there were tough times as the elder Benn grappled with life after boxing. Today, the relationship between father and son is good. Conor calls Nigel “his hero.”

But, just like Ryan and Oscar, there is a constant murmur that Conor simply is not as good as Nigel. Consider, by the time Nigel was Conor’s age of 29, he was already a two-division world champion. By comparison, Conor has won zero world championships.

Similarly, whatever Garcia does at this point, he will likely never equal the production of De La Hoya who, by the time he was Garcia’s age of 28, had already won world titles in four divisions and was the sport’s foremost superstar and a lock for the Hall of Fame.

So while Ryan and Conor will be fighting each other Saturday night – they will also be fighting the greatness that came before them – looking to prove something to themselves and the very people who helped them arrive at this moment – hoping to establish legacies of their own.

Matthew Aguilar may be reached at maguilarnew@yahoo.com

Matthew Aguilar

Matthew Aguilar is a columnist and sportswriter. Over his nearly 30-year writing career, he has contributed to Associated Press, USA Today, The RING, Ringside Seat, Boxing Weekly, many newspapers within the Gannett newspaper company and his hometown El Paso Times, where he covered everything from college football and basketball to rodeo. Now based in Chicago, he is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, the Transnational Boxing Rankings and is a voter for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the El Paso Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013.

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