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His last fight was a first-round knockout of Benjamin Gavazi in November. It was a quick finish, but the opponent wasn\u2019t at a level that tested him or moved him forward in any real way. It added to a pattern that has followed him since turning pro, where the performances look sharp, but the opposition hasn\u2019t matched the attention he receives.<\/p>\n Fan interest will focus heavily on who Whittaker is matched against on the April 18th card, because that\u2019s where the real conversation is now. He\u2019s four years into his pro career, creeping towards 30, and still hasn\u2019t been put in with a top 15-ranked light heavyweight, which is starting to annoy fans and wake people up to how he\u2019s being moved. Many see it as a warning sign that he\u2019s being built to look like a star rather than proving it the hard way against quality opposition, so this next opponent will draw more attention than the result itself.<\/p>\n That makes this return more important than it might look on paper. Whittaker has the amateur pedigree and the backing, but time is moving, and the division isn\u2019t waiting. Fighters like Morrell, who is younger, have already taken harder fights and moved closer to the top. If Whittaker is going to be taken seriously at that level, the matchmaking has to start reflecting it.<\/p>\n Ken Woods has been a senior writer at Boxing News 24 since 2013, covering the sport from every angle. With years of ringside reporting, he delivers fight news, results, and analysis that cut through the noise. Ken\u2019s work consistently spotlights champions, contenders, and rising prospects, giving fans a sharp, knowledgeable view of the global boxing scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter<\/a>Related Boxing News:<\/p>\n \t\t\tCategories Latest<\/a> \t\t<\/p>\n Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb News<\/a> \u00bb Ben Whittaker returns April 18 as fans question his level of opposition<\/p>\n Last Updated on 2026\/03\/20 at 3:18 PM \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matchroom has added Ben Whittaker to the April 18 card in Liverpool, where Callum Smith will face David…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-486672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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