Garcia reality check bursts Benn's bubble in Vegas

On one side of the road, Las Vegas tourists were being turned upside down on the New York-New York Hotel's rollercoaster.

On the other side, the biggest night of Conor Benn's career plummeted into freefall.

The polarising British welterweight arrived at T-Mobile Arena chasing a first world title and vindication after four chaotic years that stretched his reputation, career and resolve almost to breaking point.

But rather than Benn leaving with his mission accomplished, Ryan Garcia laid bare the unforgiving reality of elite-level boxing, taking just two rounds to dismantle, drop and stop the 29-year-old.

The Essex fighter's career has been so consumed by events outside the ring - the failed drugs test and provisional suspension, the WBC's mocked "highly elevated egg consumption" ruling, the Chris Eubank Jr saga and an acrimonious split with Eddie Hearn - that the most basic question of just how good he actually is had become obscured.

"It went kind of exactly how I imagined it. He was going to try and put pressure on me straight away," Garcia said afterwards.

"He was banking on the idea I may just start folding early on and maybe get tired. You can't jump in like that. It's not the move."

Benn was taken to hospital after the fight, in what was understood to be a precautionary measure.

The manner of defeat provided the clearest answer yet about Benn's place in the boxing world order.

It forces a reassessment of the route which brought Benn here, and whether his body of work really suggested he was ready for, or deserving of, a world-title fight.

Relive Garcia's swift stoppage of Benn to retain WBC welterweight title

Benn had not competed at the 10st 7lb welterweight limit for more than four years, with the two defining nights of his career coming at middleweight against Eubank.

His revenge victory in the rematch was impressive, but a points win over faded 37-year-old Regis Prograis in April hardly looked ideal preparation for a fight against Garcia - one of the world's leading welterweights.

Yet such is Benn's commercial pull that the traditional stages of a boxing education have often felt secondary. His surname brings attention given his father's illustrious career, his fighting style guarantees excitement, and the story around him has rarely been anything other than compelling.