Ben Whittaker approaches boxing with a “real life WWE” mantra. He understands and relishes the theatre, but appreciates and adheres to the business, strutting into the professional ranks bearing signs of a veteran delicacy to flick the switch between flashy salesman and steely-eyed technician.
He peacocks for the cameras and showers himself with compliments because he believes he works hard enough to vindicate it all in the ring, he will raid food buffets and feast on his mum’s cheesy potato pie as his favourite cheat meal because he knows he will burn it off.
Behind the brash talk and the bravado lies 3am runs, 6am swims and an Olympic silver-medalist who has kept humility up his sleeve amid a rise stuffed with success-bound projections and predictions.
Whittaker recently committed his future to BOXXER and Sky Sports as widely-coveted property at the top of the amateur class, shouldering the pressure as one of British boxing’s most gifted and compelling prospects. It is as though he is used to it all.
Whittaker profile
Division Light-heavyweight
Age 24
Height 6’3″
Birthplace Darlaston, United Kingdom
Amateur record 53-12 (two KOs)
“I’m the face of the sport. I’ve got the skills, I’ve invested in myself with people like SugarHill [Steward] so I’m taking it serious and if you want a bit of charisma, a bit of controversy, I’m the man for that,” he told Sky Sports.
“When I came in the gym, I was told I was going to be a star so I said ‘I will be a star’. Today people are saying I’m going to be a star, and I will be a star.
“At the light heavyweight division, who have you seen with dynamic speed, skill, power, the looks, the tallness, the reach, you tell me who else has got that at the light heavyweight division. I’ve got it all really.
“I talk a bit of rubbish really but I know I can back it up. That’s why I talk like this.”
Johnny Nelson says that new BOXXER signing Ben Whittaker knows how to sell himself and reminds him of Naseem Hamed and Floyd Mayweather.
‘Biggest announcement since Khan’
The unveiling of Whittaker’s first professional deal came in suarve underground surroundings likened to a James Bond-type location by trainer SugarHill Steward.
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Between the DJ in attendance, the cleverly-crafted trailer preceding Whittaker’s emergence and camera-pleasing arm-fold on stage, the dedicated background graphics depicting BOXXER’s shredded new signing and the teaser session on the pads with Steward, it set the tone for a ready-now disruptor.
Such is the desire to get him up and running that BOXXER CEO Ben Shalom says Whittaker will be fighting in early July with a view to competing five or six times a year.
“He knows off the back of last week that he made a very, very good decision for his career and we got to see how big he can be,” said BOXXER CEO Ben Shalom.
