Garcia vs Benn: 'He lives through me' - why Nigel Benn can't walk away from Conor

Nigel Benn had insisted he was stepping away from his son's career for good.

Yet in the build-up to Conor's WBC welterweight world title challenge against Ryan Garcia in Las Vegas, the 'Dark Destroyer' was by his son's side at the news conference and holding court at their Essex media day - as embedded as ever.

"I don't know if he was lying or if he believed it himself," Conor says with a wry smile.

Navigating a career-threatening doping case, surviving the ferocious Eubank rivalry and acrimoniously splitting from long-time promoter Eddie Hearn transformed him from 'Nigel's boy' into one of British boxing's most polarising headliners.

"It's what Conor thinks and what his dad thinks - that's what it's about, not what everybody else says," Nigel Benn says.

Thirty-six years ago, Nigel flew across the Atlantic as the fiery outsider, tearing through Doug DeWitt in Atlantic City to secure his first world title.

"I've watched him religiously for 10 years put his life on the line," Nigel says. "He's just going from strength to strength, from glory to glory. I see him being victorious. I'm not actually worried whatsoever."

The adverse drug test findings that wiped out two years of Conor's career cast a long shadow, fracturing public perception and leaving unanswered questions that still follow him.

But Conor cares little for the outside noise or winning over the boxing fraternity.

"You keep talking about what other people think, but I don't care. Winning the world title for me, it's personal. If I listen to other people, I wouldn't be where I am."

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