Conor Benn returned to the ring for the second time since his positive drug tests with a unanimous decision win over Peter Dobson at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
Benn widely-outpointed Dobson, but the Englishman’s performance drew plenty of criticism although he blamed Dobson for his part in it.
“It wasn’t as if he was defensive-minded, it was as if he didn’t want to engage,” said Benn at the post-fight press conference. “He didn’t commit to any shots. He was tough, and that’s all there was to it tonight.”
“There wasn’t much to [the fight], I have had harder spars than tonight. I was very disappointed. Given that [he said he was] a dog, I am from The Bronx, you heard, and all that talk and didn’t engage. It is hard to get the knockout when you try to draw someone into a fight and there was nothing coming back.”
Benn improved to 23-0 (14 KOs). The 27-year-old will find out if he can fight in the United Kingdom in two weeks. This card had an early start in Las Vegas to cater to the British market.
With the win, Benn took Dobson's undefeated record with the New Yorker losing for the first time in his career. Dobson, aged 33, saw his record drop to 16-1 with 9 knockout wins, but Benn didn’t hold back in bashing Dobson some more.
“It was really easy work tonight, today, this morning. It was easy work.”
According to CompuBox, the numbers mirrored the lack of enthusiasm around the performance. Benn had nearly double the amount of landed punches in the first four rounds, yet, his power didn’t seem to bother the American. Dobson tied or outlanded Benn in terms of power shots in three of the four final rounds.
“That is what I showed tonight,” Benn added. “I could do 12 rounds - easy.”
