BERNSTEIN ON BOXING
a polarizing figure who could have easily been dismissed as one of boxing’s many novelty acts – one who would wear thin and eventually fade away. In a deep pool of serious and competent British light heavyweight contenders, Whittaker came across as the court jester of the crowd with his frequent taunting and showboating. It did not seem likely that he would be the one who could finally pierce the wall that Bivol and Artur Beterbiev had put up. Several fighters from the U.K. had tried and failed. Callum Smith failed against Beterbiev but will get a second chance when he faces Bivol in December. As things have played out, Whittaker’s ability and ambition have sustained him,
on him is unknown. We have long since passed the age of nuance when it comes to public reaction – certainly in boxing. So, the difficult ending to the Wallace fight for Whittaker created a lot of doomsayers who declared him unable to compete on a championship level. Let’s dig into this in a more realistic way. When the “brand” has pushed you faster than you might be ready to be pushed, it will likely expose deficiencies. For fighters under less scrutiny, those deficiencies are viewed as correctable with experience. For those like Whittaker, who are in a title eliminator to face one of the best fighters on the planet, they are looked at as fatal flaws, maybe rightfully. Two
than an aberration. You do not, however, have to let those kinds of circumstances be your undoing. With a smart and realistic promoter (which Whittaker has in Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn) and the marketability that he brings to the table, he can still make his own path. With his track record of staying busy (by today’s standards anyway), he can make the most of the next 12-16 months with a Wallace redemption fight and a match with a higher-level fighter. If both of those tests are passed, no matter who sits on the throne of the division, it will be appropriate for Team Whittaker to roll the dice. With a somewhat limited time still available to him after Smith, Bivol will most certainly turn his attention to what he considers megafights – which Whittaker isn’t yet. That will likely either take him to Beterbiev or another weight class for David Benavidez. It may free up a crown that Whittaker can pursue or just give him time to evolve into the fighter who can handle a championship test against an aging legendary champ. When you are a polarizing figure, as Whittaker has made himself with his flamboyant behavior in the ring, it makes it even more difficult to get a fair reading. Behavior that seems to demean opponents endears you to some but is more likely to alienate others. Many who are anxious to see Whittaker humbled in the ring could have a hard time with objectivity. Will the humbling scenario win out, or can Whittaker take it the distance for a title and true stardom? In a world that includes lesser versions of Bivol or Beterbiev, or someone else as the challenge, a better developed version of Whittaker could succeed. The rubber will meet the road in the coming months, and boxing fans on both sides of the Atlantic will find out. Based on the journey to this point, I’m guessing the process of finding out will be at the very least quite entertaining.
and at age 29 it is possible (though hardly a sure thing) that he might end up as the last man standing at the barricade. Along with Willy Hutchinson, he is the youngest of the group, which also includes solid contenders Joshua Buatsi, Zach Parker and maybe even still Anthony Yarde. What separates Whittaker from all these
When the “brand” has pushed you faster than you might be ready to be pushed, it will likely expose deficiencies.
fighters is that they are all battle-tested. With only 13 pro fights under his belt, Whittaker found himself in with a fringe contender, a world title shot in sight. And that is where we started this column. It was looking like a dominant performance against Wallace for nine-plus rounds, but then things went horribly wrong and it took a lot of holding, extremely friendly refereeing by Kieran McCann and Wallace’s inability to finish to stave off disaster. While it is fair to say Whittaker unraveled a bit in the end of the fight, it is also fair to say he showed the grit to survive and get the win. He also had the awareness of the moment to immediately say there should be a rematch. It needs to be noted that Whittaker’s trainer, Andy Lee, later said that his fighter had been sick with COVID just a week prior to the event. Whittaker himself downplayed the illness as “a couple of sniffles,” not wanting to make any excuses, so the effect it had
things will help us know for certain. The first clue will come when he likely takes on Wallace again. Will Wallace’s success at the end of the first fight be a path to more success for him, or will Whittaker show it was an aberration and return to the dominance he showed for most of that fight? The second clue will come when he joins the rest of his British light heavyweight fraternity in a true test against a very legit top 10 fighter. Does he have the staying power, punch resistance and conditioning to handle such an opponent? It is possible that, with the vagaries of boxing, he will be able to get a title shot by some unexpected route. But even if it is against one of the other current top contenders who ascend to the throne in the division, it does not seem fruitful to take that step without answering the questions posed above. We live in a boxing world where winning a title eliminator when you are still considered a work in progress is closer to the norm
A s we all watched British light heavyweight contender Ben Whittaker stumble through the last round and a half against Australian Conor Wallace, staying just a half step ahead of disaster, a key question arose: Has the Whittaker brand exceeded the Whittaker reality? There were actually several stark realities on display at that point. First was that against his first fairly talented foe, Whittaker was in a life-and-death situation. Second was the somewhat astonishing fact that Whittaker vs. Wallace was an IBF title eliminator, meaning the winner could be matched against Ring Magazine champion Dmitry Bivol, of all people. Watching those final minutes unfold, those two things weighed heavily on my mind, as I suspect they did on the minds of supporters and associates of Whittaker. What to make of Ben Whittaker? By Al Bernstein
Whittaker started strong but was tested late by Australia’s Conor Wallace.
From here, across the pond in the U.S., boxing folk have observed Whittaker’s career and at various times been intrigued, bemused, skeptical, irritated or impressed. Sometimes all those feelings come within one fight. I don’t think it is even controversial to say he is best described as a talented enigma. He is, however, an evolving enigma, which is what makes him such a compelling figure no matter what side of the ocean you may reside. Even with an Olympic silver medal tucked in his pocket, he quickly became
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