Failed drug tests, vandalism & hate speech, Conor Benn and Ryan Garcia’s most controversial career moments revealed

RYAN GARCIA and Conor Benn finally collide this weekend in an eagerly anticipated Sin City showdown.

The winner of Sunday morning’s desert dust-up will walk away with the prestigious WBC welterweight title in tow.

Garcia, 28, is the current holder of the Mexican sanctioning body’s historic green and gold belt.

And he’ll look to make his maiden defence of the strap with a statement-making victory over Benn, who looks worryingly drained ahead of his return to welterweight action.

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Victory for both men will be a significant moment in their respective careers.

For Garcia, it will be validation of his status as a legitimate world champion, which he became in February with a lopsided points win over a disappointing Mario Barrios.

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Garcia vs Benn – all the info

Ryan Garcia will make the first defence of his WBC welterweight title against British superstar Conor Benn THIS Saturday.

The blockbuster Las Vegas event is under the arm of Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing promotion.

Garcia, 28, captured his first world title in February by securing a dominant unanimous decision victory over Mario Barrios.

Benn, 29, is challenging for a world title for the first time in his professional career.

His sole professional defeat came against domestic rival Chris Eubank Jr in April 2025, a loss he quickly avenged with a dominant unanimous decision victory in their November 2025 rematch.

Benn enters the biggest bout of his life following a decisive points win over former world champion Regis Prograis in April, which marked his debut under Zuffa Boxing.

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Benn’s failed drug tests, October 2022

The boxing world was waiting with bated breath back in the autumn of 2022 for a historic domestic dust-up between Benn and Chris Eubank Jr.

But Benn’s entire world would be turned upside down days before the cross-generational family grudge match when it was revealed that he’d failed a pair of pre-fight drug tests in July and September.

Both tests discovered traces of the banned medication clomiphene in Benn’s system.

The drug can be used to boost testosterone levels or restore them following a cycle of anabolic steroids, which shut down the body’s natural production of the hormone.

Benn, who eventually had a pair of fights with Eubank Jr, vehemently denied intentionally taking the prohibited substance and cited contamination as the reason why it was in his system.

After a two-year battle to clear his name, the independent National Anti-Doping Panel cleared Benn to return to the ring in November 2024 when it lifted the provisional suspension which had been re-imposed on him.

Unlike after the NAD’s decision to lift Benn’s ban in August 2023, the British Boxing Board of Control and UK Anti-Doping opted not to appeal the decision.

Garcia’s failed drug tests, April 2024

Like Benn, Garcia also had a pair of anti-doping violations rock his world.

But they were discovered AFTER the American’s scintillating showing against countryman Devin Haney in their WBC super-lightweight title showdown in New York.

Garcia dropped Haney THREE TIMES on his way to a majority decision victory.

But a few weeks after the fight, it emerged that tests conducted the day before and the day of the Brooklyn bust-up discovered he had traces of the banned drug Ostarine in his system.

Ostarine, a Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator, is a substance used by many in the fitness industry to build muscle while in a caloric surplus or maintain it in a deficit.

Garcia vehemently denied intentionally taking the drug to gain an advantage and blamed the positive tests on two supplements he’d been taking ahead of the fight.

But ultimately, he was handed a retroactive one-year suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission and forfeited the entirety of his disclosed purse.

Garcia’s vandalism charge, June 2024

Just over a month after his failed drug tests became public knowledge, Garcia found himself behind bars after allegedly causing serious damage at a plush Los Angeles hotel.

He was arrested for allegedly creating over £11,000 worth of damage at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills.

The incident, according to Garcia’s lawyer, Darin Chavez, occurred during “an extraordinarily challenging time for Ryan, as he has been grappling with devastating news regarding his mother’s health“.

The misdemeanour charge was dropped the following October, as the hotel was satisfied with Garcia reimbursing them £11,070 to cover the damage he caused.

Garcia’s hate speech ban, July 2024

He may currently be one of the WBC’s poster boys, but the Mexican sanctioning body REMOVED Garcia from their rankings in July 2024.

The WBC ejected him from their rankings for repeated use of racial slurs against Black people online, in addition to his series of reprehensible comments about Muslims.

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman wrote on X: “Exercising my authority … I am hereby expelling Ryan Garcia from any activity with our organization. We reject any form of discrimination.”

Garcia apologised for his actions on the social media platform, insisting he was “trolling”.

Benn’s Matchroom exit, February 2026

Up until this year, Benn’s professional career was entirely overseen by Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn.

Hearn and Matchroom invested in ‘The Destroyer’ back in 2016 after he fully went all in on his dream of emulating his old man.

They worked together for 25 fights, including his domestic dust-ups with Eubank Jr at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But their working relationship came to a stunning end earlier this year, when Benn signed with Dana White‘s Zuffa Boxing.

The decision stunned boxing fans around the world, many of whom had publicly doubted the Saudi-backed outfit’s ability to land big names.

Benn inked a lucrative ONE FIGHT DEAL with the promotion worth a whopping £11MILLION.

He’s since signed a new five-fight contract with the outfit, the first of which will be his title tilt against Garcia.

Hearn and Matchroom were left blindsided by Benn’s decision to move on to pastures new, which the former claims he informed them of through his lawyer.

A stunned Hearn told iFL TV: “It’s not often you get shocked and I blame myself. I blame myself because, I just I forgot it was boxing.

“I just felt that, the loyalty that we’ve shown would never ever put us in this position.

“And I just felt that, I never really needed to push Conor Benn to sign a new contract previously.

“And I probably could have got him to sign a new contract previously. But like I said, I blame myself. I made a mistake because I misjudged the character.

“I text him and said, ‘I think we should have a call. I think for everything I’ve done for you, I think I deserve a call. And he said, ‘No’ . And I was like, ‘Man. I can’t believe it.’

“I just don’t know what to say other than, I felt that everything that we gave him, the loyalty that we gave him, the support we gave him, would be enough to talk it through or just get close to a number.