Conor Benn is one of the rising stars in British boxing and spearheads the new generation of stadium headliners which will replace the old guard who are starting to fade out. This is an important fight for Benn as any loss at this stage of his career would set back his dreams of being a world champion and being a future star.
Chris van Heerden has been a fringe world level contender in the Welterweight division for the better part of a decade. He hasn’t beaten any elite welterweights but has a decent resume which includes wins over Matthew Hatton, Steve Claggett as well as fights against Errol Spence Jr and Jaron Ennis. Heerden is a decent southpaw with respectable technical skill but doesn’t have a huge amount of speed or snap on his punches.
I think Conor Benn has improved massively in the last year and a half especially when you consider his early days of being dropped by Cedrick Peynaud. I think Benn’s timing and power will likely be too much for Heerden who hasn’t fought for over a year and is coming towards the conclusion of his time inside the squared circle. It wouldn’t surprise me if Benn caught Heerden early on and then overwhelmed him due to a mixture of Benn being very good offensively and Heerden being rusty early on.
I don’t mind this type of fight for Conor Benn but his next fight has to be some sort of big fight or preferably a fight versus David Avanesyan who currently holds the European welterweight title. I do think Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn has made it clear they arn’t interested in the Avanesyan fight as it’s too much of a risk and I would presume he doesn’t want Avanesyan to stop Benn like he did Josh Kelly.
Conor Benn to stop Chris van Heerden in six to eight rounds though an early finish wouldn’t be surprising.
Boxing Fulcrum 