The Ring’s 2022 “Trainer of the Year” served as Mario Barrios’ cut man when Garcia beat him by unanimous decision to become the WBC welterweight champion on February 21. Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) will make his first title defense against his bitter British rival, Conor Benn, on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the same venue where he beat Barrios.

Santos labeled the bout a “fantastic fight,” one in which he favors Victorville, California’s Garcia to emerge victorious. Garcia-Benn will stream live on Paramount+ in the United States and on DAZN across the UK and Ireland.

“Not only is Ryan a very good puncher, he has electric hand speed, and we all know the punch you don’t see coming is the punch that can hurt you,” Santos told The Ring. “When Ryan’s on his A game, and he’s in the zone and he’s focused, he’s tough for anybody. … He has shown times where he’s very dynamic, and that’s the Ryan Garcia you have to prepare for.”

Garcia, 27, dropped Barrios inside the first 30 seconds of the first round with an overhand right. While Garcia, The Ring’s No. 5-ranked welterweight, put much more emphasis on his right hand and had immense success with it in the dominant decision victory, Santos still believes his patented left hook is the punch Benn (25-1, 14 KOs) needs to guard against the most.

“He showed that he has a pretty good right hand, but I think you can see the right hand coming a little bit more because it’s from distance,” Santos said. “You should be prepared for that. At any rate, being you’re a professional fighter and you’ve seen that pretty much your whole career. But a dynamic, lightning-quick left hook, he’s got to really be on his A game to watch out for that.”

The win was Garcia’s first since December 2023, when he scored an eighth-round stoppage of Oscar Duarte. Garcia’s majority-decision victory over Devin Haney, now the WBO welterweight champ, was overturned to a no-contest two years ago because he tested positive for ostarine, a banned substance.

Whether Benn will be at his best at 147 pounds is the million-dollar question. Benn, 29, hasn’t fought at the welterweight limit since his second-round stoppage of Chris Van Heerden in April 2022.

The Englishman last fought at a 150-pound catch weight when he beat two-time 140-pound titleholder Regis Prograis by unanimous decision in a 10-round fight April 11 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Benn hadn’t weighed less than 150 pounds in his four fights between 2023-25 and was 149.6 the day before he faced Prograis.

“If he’s the type of guy that’s very disciplined out of the ring and never allows his weight to go too high, then I think he’ll be fine,” Santos said. “But if it’s a case of where you’ve either added too much muscle or you’ve let the weight get away from you, even in and around some of the higher weight classes where you don’t stay in that 10-to-15-pound range, then it can really hurt you. It can come back to bite you, especially going down the stretch.”