Ben Whittaker has been challenged to fight a light heavyweight with many years of experience at the top level, including three world title fights.
Whittaker is an Olympic silver medallist who turned professional with lots of hype and attention. So far, he has split fans with his showboating style, given that he has often play-acted in the ring against beatable opposition a level two below his own.
He almost came unstuck against Liam Cameron when he was knocked out of the ring but was given a technical draw when he claimed he was unable to carry on due to injury, but won the rematch via second round stoppage.
He has fought twice this year and won both by KO inside the first two rounds, and he’s currently the WBC silver light heavyweight ruler.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, trainer Tunde Ajayi admitted his man Anthony Yarde would be open to a fight against fellow Brit Whittaker.
“We’ve spoke to Frank Smith, they told us he wasn’t going to be ready until early next year. Ben is on his trajectory now. I always say people try to build their name off Anthony Yarde, and I don’t want Ben to be another Joshua Buatsi where your whole carer is built off us and you still don’t fight for a world title.
“We want to see that fight, Anthony Yarde against Joshua Buatsi, but we want to see Anthony Yarde against, I’m not going to say the young up-and-comer cause he’s 29, 30 years old- but Ant would relish a fight against [Whittaker] if the opportunity arose.”
Whittaker is now at the point where he needs to step up and prove himself against a proven fighter, and Yarde would present that challenge, while Ben Shalom also believes he has a rising star who could already beat ‘The Surgeon.’
Yarde has already shown he has heart and skill in fights against the likes of Artur Beterbiev, David Benavidez and Sergey Kovalev, though he ultimately lost all three by KO, but he has beaten Lyndon Arthur twice and is a former European light-heavyweight champion.
