Ryan Garcia is not spending fight week talking about Conor Benn alone. Speaking to Fight Hub TV, the WBC welterweight champion turned his mic on a man he insists will not let him get on with his career: a retired one.
“Crawford is the one that’s always coming up and slightly hating on me little by little,” Garcia said.
“He’s desperate, bro. Nobody knows him outside of boxing, so he’s doing everything he can to continue his name.”
The trigger was a visit by Terence Crawford to Benn’s camp in the buildup to Saturday. In Garcia’s telling, the appearance was a personal shot.
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“I know Crawford’s at Conor Benn’s gym trying to give him every technique he could give him,” Garcia told Fight Hub TV in an interview relayed by MiddleEasy.
“I feel like I’ll beat your ass, so what are you going to teach him?”
A feud with a retired champion
Crawford has not fought since outpointing Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight championship in Las Vegas in September 2025, a result that made him the first male fighter of the modern era to hold undisputed titles across three weight divisions. He announced his retirement on 17 December 2025 with a 42-0 record, saying he was walking away with “nothing else left to prove.”
Garcia says the friction began when he suggested Crawford had ended his career with big fights still on the table. His prescription for where the retired champion should be instead was blunt.
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“In the meantime, you’re retired. You should be in Turks and Caicos chilling on a yacht.”
He also said his read on Crawford has changed.
“He actually likes the attention. I used to think Crawford didn’t, but now I know he does.”
“He realized nobody cares after you retire.”
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The gym visit is not Garcia’s first shot at Crawford this fight week. Days earlier, he had already labeled the former champion “a hater” and told him to “get out of retirement already.” Crawford has not publicly responded to Garcia’s latest comments.
A knockout call inside five rounds
Garcia took the WBC welterweight title from Mario Barrios on points in February and now defends it against a Briton whose only career defeat, at the hands of Chris Eubank Jr., was avenged in a November 2025 rematch. Garcia has been predicting a stoppage inside five rounds and calling the assignment “easy work.”
Whether Crawford’s gym trip actually leaves any technical residue on Benn will be tested in Las Vegas on Saturday, 12 September, with the card streamed exclusively on Paramount+.
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