Friday 13 November 2020 10:28, UK
Nigel Benn feels his son Conor's "reckless" York Hall performance on Wednesday was down to tiredness, but insists he will go all the way and win a world title.
The welterweight was put down twice by Cedrick Peynaud in the opening round before returning the compliment in the fifth and sixth rounds to stay unbeaten with a 57-54 points win.
Father Nigel is in Spain but has seen the fight and was on the phone to the 21-year-old on Thursday morning.
He admits Conor made mistakes but believes his son would have become the first boxer to stop Peynaud if the six-rounder had gone on for another 30 seconds, as he had displayed the character that can see him follow in his father's footsteps.
Even if he was reckless I liked to see the way he came through and I know he will go all the way. I just know he will. He's got guts
"What I like about my son is he's got guts," said Nigel Benn.
"If he had lost it would've only been because he was jaded. That was it. Sometimes you get in there, you just get slack.
"What I loved about it was the one thing he said to me: 'You've either got heart or you haven't got heart'. And we know he's got heart.
"He was against a big guy who was 31 and had come to fight and give it to him, but he knew 'I am going to fight with you'. That's the difference. Even if he was reckless I liked to see the way he came through and I know he will go all the way.
"I just know he will. He's got guts."
Benn dismissed his son's suggestion that he needs to go back to the drawing board with trainer Tony Sims, but made it clear he wants him to have a "proper rest".
The York Hall classic was Conor's fifth fight in as many months after being sidelined for the first half of the year with a broken jaw. He then suffered a severe skin allergy before his American debut just over four weeks ago.
"My immediate reaction was he did what he did because he just tried to knock the guy out," added Nigel Benn.
"As soon as he was told Peynaud had never been stopped before, Conor got it in his head 'I am going to go and stop him'.
"He has been on a good run, but he just got sloppy and what it boils down to is, I don't think Conor should've been boxing. He kept telling me he was tired. Before this fight, in sparring, he just couldn't get it together. He is jaded.
"Yes, he went to New York, did a good number, came back and went straight in to getting ready for another fight.
"He is not giving his body time to relax. I kept telling him he was tired, he just kept saying 'I'll get through it', but his body couldn't do a thing. He did absolutely nothing he was meant to do.
"I spoke to him this morning and just told him to stop moping around, feeling bad. 'You did well in the end'.
"There is no point thinking this needs changing, that needs changing, because it doesn't. He won, he learned so much, so now he just needs to chill out."
