Conor Benn continues his boxing education

The professional development of Conor ‘The Destroyer’ Benn 7-0 (5) continues this weekend when the undefeated welterweight takes on Birmingham’s Kane Baker 4-0 over six rounds at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London on Friday night.

Baker promises to be the toughest test of Benn’s short professional career. At 27-years-old he is close to his physical prime and will be the second straight boxer with a winning record that Benn has faced.

The 20-year-old Benn is still a work-in-progress. Without the sort of amateur pedigree that kickstarted the pro careers of Anthony Joshua, Audley Harrison, Amir Khan and James DeGale, Benn, who compiled a record of 20 wins from 22 bouts in the Australian amateur system, is learning his craft in the pay-for-punch ranks.

It doesn’t hurt that his father Nigel Benn was a middleweight and super middleweight world champion who was one-half of many of the most exciting fights to take place on British soil in the mid-90s. But while Benn Jr shares some of the same attributes that made ‘The Dark Destroyer’ a crowd favourite – he is a fast, explosive puncher who uses angles well and carries genuine knockout power in both mitts – he still needs time to develop his own style and identity in the ring.

In his first fight back after seven months out of the ring in July, Benn took on his first opponent with a winning record in Mike Cole, an undefeated southpaw from Leamington Spa in Warwickshire with a record of 4-0-1 (1) at the time.

Benn appeared more composed in that fight, patiently breaking down Cole with a combination of body work and power shots before dismissing him in the third round of a scheduled six. Much like his father he is a predator in the ring who isn’t afraid to take one to land one, but he does have the ring smarts and lateral movement to avoid being hit when required.