{"id":613027,"date":"2026-04-17T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/613027\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T14:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:00:11","slug":"andy-lee-ben-whittaker-is-looking-scary-and-very-exciting-ahead-of-liverpool-headliner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/613027\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Lee: Ben Whittaker is Looking ‘Scary’ and ‘Very Exciting’ Ahead of Liverpool Headliner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trainer Andy Lee has\u00a0stated\u00a0that Ben Whittaker\u2019s potential is \u201cscary\u201d ahead of his headliner against Braian Suarez at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool tomorrow night<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There have been high hopes ahead of\u00a0the Olympic silver medalist\u00a0turning\u00a0over,\u00a0however, the light heavyweight hopeful has experienced a\u00a0relatively slow\u00a0start to life as a professional. Whittaker (10-0-1, 7 KOs) turned professional with Ben Shalom\u2019s\u00a0Boxxer\u00a0in\u00a02022 but\u00a0only recorded eight appearances in his first two years with the promotion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A controversial\u00a0technical decision\u00a0draw with Liam Cameron followed\u00a0his two years with\u00a0Boxxer, prompting Whittaker to\u00a0acquire\u00a0the services of Lee. Whittaker left little doubt in the needle-ridden rematch, with a\u00a0second-round\u00a0stoppage against his British rival. Although the stoppage was a little premature, it was a successful start for the new partnership. The pair now go into their third straight fight together.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a real test and a serious challenge, but if Ben is going to do what I think he\u2019ll do in the sport \u2013 these are the challenges he needs.\u201d Lee said at yesterday\u2019s press conference. \u201cCommiserations to Callum [Smith]. We wish him well in his recovery. Ben has stepped in and taken the opportunity to main event here in Liverpool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whittaker joined Eddie Hearn\u2019s Matchroom following his rematch success against Cameron in the away corner. His work with Lee continued into his Matchroom debut, a first round stoppage over German contender Benjamin\u00a0Gavazi last November in Birmingham.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0an opportunity for everyone in Liverpool and the surrounding area to\u00a0come and see\u00a0one of the future stars of boxing,\u201d Lee added. \u201cYou can say you were there when he fought Suarez and knocked Suarez out. What\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0seen from Ben in this camp, he\u2019s\u00a0just gone to a whole new level. His ceiling, I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know where it is?\u00a0He keeps getting better and better and better.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0scary, and\u00a0very exciting.\u00a0You\u2019re\u00a0all in for a good show on Saturday night.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whittaker has resisted in taking the bait from David Morrell, who suggested Whittaker could replace the injured Smith in the original headliner<\/a>. For now, the experienced Argentine, Suarez (21-4, 20 KOs), offers little more than a yardstick against some of the top contenders Suarez has lost to in Lyndon Arthur and Albert Ramirez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Englishman will be expected to move into title contention in the fight or two as he ranked in the top 15 with three of the governing bodies. Whittaker holds 13th spot with the WBO and is 5th place with the IBF, where Dmitry Bivol holds both titles. With the WBC, Whittaker is perched in 3rd place for David Benavidez\u2019s world title. However, the champion moves up to cruiserweight on May 3 to take on WBA and WBO champion Gilberto Ramirez<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trainer Andy Lee has\u00a0stated\u00a0that Ben Whittaker\u2019s potential is \u201cscary\u201d ahead of his headliner against Braian Suarez at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,122410,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-613027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ben-whittaker","11":"tag-boxing","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613027","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=613027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}