That was a tough day at the office for Conor Benn.
Benn kept ahold of his undefeated record on Wednesday night but it was nowhere near as easy as expected for the son of former middleweight and super middleweight champion Nigel Benn.
Benn was dropped twice by opponent Cedrick Peynaud in a dramatic first round at York Hall but rallied admirably and claimed a points victory over the Frenchman.
“Massive learning experience. I’ll come back from it and learn from it,” Benn said after getting his hand raised.
“The only thing I showed in that fight is – I have heart. I’ll learn from this.
WATCH: @ConorNigel comes back to beat Cedrick Peynaud on points in a thrilling contest. https://t.co/sSPwa77MvE
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) December 14, 2017
“I think I dealt with it alright. You cannot test heart, you’ve either got it, or you’ve not.”
The 21-year-old moved to 11-0 with his hard-fought win which left him with badly swollen eyes but it was a necessary battle that proved that Benn has what it takes to come through adversity.
Sky Sports pundit Johnny Nelson was in attendance for the fight and he claimed that it was exactly the kind of fight that Benn needed in order to improve.
“I bet his dad was watching and sitting there saying ‘good, that was the best thing that could happen’, because I myself believe that was the best thing that could happen to him too,” said Nelson.
“Now he will go back and he now knows he’s going through stages.
“Eddie (Hearn) took the stabilisers off for him to box out in America, to perform and we thought right, he’s performing now he’s got to get thrown in.
“This was going to happen and all these things are what a fighter has to go throw to be a fully-rounded, accomplished fighter.
“He had to test himself, test his desire and test his bottle.”
While he escaped a huge scare, Benn definitely didn’t get through the contest unscathed and he took to social media on Thursday morning to show off his battle scars.
This sport is tougher than I thought. Bloody hell. Love to my supporters! See you next year! pic.twitter.com/9B5huTtDEp
— Conor Nigel Benn (@ConorNigel) December 14, 2017
Boxing hurts, folks.
