Garcia targets Lopez next | ‘Benn will be back’

Ryan Garcia will look to unify world championships with Teofimo Lopez next after his stunning stoppage victory over Conor Benn.

Garcia looked imperious as he dismissed Benn inside two rounds at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

But the American superstar believes Benn can rebuild and recover.

“He just needs to gain a little bit more experience. I don’t think he has enough experience at this point. I don’t think he was as experienced as me but I think he will be back. He went in, tried to fight me,” Garcia said.

“You can’t jump in like that. It’s not the move. I think that he needs to be a little bit more patient.

“He’s an alright dude. I have a new level of respect for him. I hope he can come back and do great things in the sport.”

After defending the WBC welterweight title, Garcia immediately had words for WBA champion Teofimo Lopez, who was in attendance at the arena.

“I want to unify against Teofimo. I think that’s the move,” Garcia said afterwards. “It’s a huge fight and Teo’s an entertaining dude and it’s going to be a hell of a build-up and he’s a good fighter too so let’s run it.”

Lopez, who has past wins over Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor on his stellar resume, was soundly beaten by Shakur Stevenson earlier this year. But Lopez bounced back to beat Rolando Romero, who himself beat Garcia last year.

But Garcia warned: “I was just getting started in there [against Benn]. There’s a lot of things that I’ve been working on. But that’s just another opportunity to show that in another fight.

“I have a lot of weapons in my arsenal that I didn’t bring out yet.”