Conor Benn rejected December Pacquiao offer but open to early 2027 fight

Conor Benn has said he rejected an offer to face Manny Pacquiao in December but would be open to meeting the former eight-division champion in the first quarter of 2027.

Pacquiao had been linked with a place on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s fight with Anthony Joshua at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11. Eddie Hearn has since confirmed that the Filipino, who turns 48 next month, will not appear on the bill. Shakur Stevenson, Joe Cordina and Paddy Donovan had also been discussed as possible opponents.

Benn said the date came too soon after his second-round stoppage defeat by WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia in September. The 30-year-old also wanted to spend time with his family following the birth of his son.

“He’s an all-time legend. He’s an eight-division world champion, he’s an all-time, he’ll go down in the history books,” Benn told Sky Sports. “Another stadium show sounds nice. I know the Pacquiao fight was offered to me for December.

“And I wasn’t ready to get the fight done in December. But if he wants it Q1 next year, we can do Pacquiao. The fight got presented to me for December and it was just too soon, making weight, got a newborn son, so for me it was really about spending time with my family.”

Benn plans move away from welterweight

The weight would be a central issue in any renewed negotiations. Benn returned to 147lbs for the first time since 2022 to challenge Garcia, having pushed for the WBC to install him as its mandatory challenger, but was dropped heavily and stopped inside two rounds in his first world-title fight.

Benn has since said his future lies at middleweight and acknowledged that making the welterweight limit affected his performance against Garcia.

“I don’t know what I was thinking making 147lbs. You think right now I’m 185, 186lbs,” Benn said. “Making 147, a lot of people said I can’t do it and of course the inner me was: ‘Alright cool, you can’t do it – watch me.’ It’s one thing making the weight and it’s one thing performing at your best at the weight. And you know it showed, I paid the price for chasing greatness.”

Benn did not dispute the stoppage or blame the referee for intervening after he regained his feet.

“There’s no excuses, Ryan is a phenomenal fighter, caught me with a phenomenal shot and he was the better man on the night,” he said. “I dust it all off, dust the cobwebs off and come back and be a better version of myself.”

The defeat followed Benn’s 10-round points victory over Regis Prograis at a 150lbs catchweight in April. Benn, now 25-2 (14 KOs), had ended 2025 by avenging his earlier points loss to Chris Eubank Jr, dropping Eubank twice in the final round of their November rematch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

A deciding third fight with Eubank has also been discussed for 2027. Benn’s manager, Keith Connolly, previously outlined a plan for him to return at middleweight before potentially facing Eubank at 168lbs. Hearn has said any trilogy fight he helped negotiate would take place at super-middleweight without the rehydration restrictions imposed for their first two contests.

No agreement has been announced for another fight with Eubank or a meeting with Pacquiao. If discussions with Pacquiao resume for early 2027, the parties would still have to settle on a weight following Benn’s decision to leave the welterweight division.