CONOR BENN and welterweight rival Rolly Romero almost came to blows in New York.
The 10st 7lbers were at Madison Square Garden to watch Teofimo Lopez defend his WBO super-lightweight crown against Shakur Stevenson.
And they had both attended a boxing awards show the evening before, where Benn vs Chris Eubank I won fight of the year.
But when the 30-year-old American, in the giant orange puffer jacket, got too close to the Brit’s ringside seat, things got physical.
The rowing rivals went head-to-head and swapped insults and threats before being pulled apart.
Benn, 29, appeared to reach over and grab Romero by his coat as promoter Eddie Hearn played bouncer.
Benn, who insists he is returning to welterweight for a world title shot, despite four years away from the 147lb division, has had eyes on Romero for a while.
In the summer, he said: “We’ve got Rolly there. Rolly is a fight we’d love to make.
“f we don’t make progress with any other developments by the end of the month, then we pull the trigger on getting the Rolly fight made.”
And after the altercation, Benn added: “He can get it tonight, or we can do it next.”
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The Home of Boxing in 2026
There’s a massive year of boxing ahead!
It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster year of action inside the boxing ring.
Tyson Fury will to make his return in April against Arslanbek Makhmudov, Conor Benn is closing in on a world title shot and Fabio Wardley will defend his newly won heavyweight crown.
Canelo Alvarez will be hoping to return after his defeat to Terence Crawford and heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk will also need to defend his straps.
Derek Chisora will fight for the 50th and (perhaps) final time against Deontay Wilder, while Daniel Dubois is also on the comeback trail.
A whole bunch of British stars could also take a leap into superstardom, with the likes of Moses Itauma, Hamzah Sheeraz and Adam Azim ready to join the very top of the sport.
Up first we have a massive fight with Stateside superstars Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez meeting later this month in Madison Square Garden.
Here’s all the big fights coming up…
January
- Sat 31 – Teofimo Lopez vs Shakur Stevenson – WBO super-lightweight title – DAZN PPV
- Sat 31 – Bakhram Murtazaliev vs Josh Kelly – IBF super-welterweight title – DAZN
- Sat 31 – Francesca Hennessy vs Ellie Bouttell – BBC2
February
- Sat 7 – Nick Ball vs Brandon Figueroa – WBA featherweight title – DAZN
- Sat 21 – Ryan Garcia vs Mario Barrios – WBC welterweight title – DAZN PPV
- Sat 21 – Leigh Wood vs Josh Warrington – DAZN
- Sun 22 – Claressa Shields vs Franchon Crews-Dezurn – heavyweight unification – DAZN
- Sat 28 – Emanuel Navarrete vs Eduardo Nunez – super-featherweight unification – DAZN
March
- Sat 14 – Jazza Dickens vs Anthony Cacace – WBA super-featherweight title – DAZN
- Sat 28 – Moses Itauma vs Jermaine Franklin – DAZN
- Sat 28 – Sebsastian Fundora vs Keith Furman – Amazon Prime PPV
April
- Sat 4 – Derek Chisora vs Deontay Wilder – DAZN PPV
- Sat 11 – Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov – Netflix
