Round 1 knockout of Benjamin Gavazi<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\nWhittaker’s speed and power were simply too much for his opponent, who was dropped early in the round before the Brit moved in with a sharp combination, finished off with a vicious right hand which knocked Gavazi (19-2, 13 KOs) out.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old Olympic silver medallist said he had to back up his extravagant ring walk — where he was accompanied by UK rapper Dizzee Rascal — and he did just that.<\/p>\n
While he made a point of saying he wanted to build his career the right way, Whittaker (10-0-1, 7 KOs) also made it clear he believes he has all that is required to go right to the top.<\/p>\n
“I truly don’t believe no one can move like me, they don’t have the speed like me, and they don’t have the IQ like me at 175 [pounds],” Whittaker told his post-fight news conference.<\/p>\n
“They can all bang … But I’ve got something different. But at the end of the day, it’s my 11th fight, and it’s all about the process.”<\/p>\n
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Promoter Eddie Hearn, trainer Andy Lee and Whittaker himself said they want between three and four fights in 2026 as they look to build his resume and profile.<\/p>\n
Whittaker, known for his showmanship, confidence and skill in equal measures, acknowledged he is “marmite” — meaning people either love him or hate him — but vowed to remain true to himself as he chases titles.<\/p>\n
“When you are walking with shorts and boots like this, you got to back it up and that’s what I did,” Whittaker said.<\/p>\n
“But at the end of the day I did what I was supposed to do.<\/p>\n
“In sport you need something different … For me I’ve always been different. Even in school, that’s probably why I got kicked out.<\/p>\n
“But I’ve always been told to stand out. That’s what my mom told me; to be a standout star, and that’s why I’m trying to be in boxing.<\/p>\n
“But it’s authentic as well. A lot of people do fake it. At the end of the day, I’m just being me and I know when to turn it on and know when to turn it off and that’s it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Whittaker won with a brutal Round 1 knockout on Saturday.\u00a0Nick Potts\/PA Images via Getty Images BIRMINGHAM, England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-318274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}