{"id":654921,"date":"2026-06-24T00:24:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/654921\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:24:25","slug":"ben-whittaker-says-american-fans-understand-him-better-than-uk-audiences-ahead-of-u-s-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/654921\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Whittaker Says American Fans Understand Him Better Than UK Audiences Ahead Of U.S. Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Whittaker believes American boxing fans have a better understanding of his personality and style than many supporters back home as he prepares for his United States debut this Saturday.<\/p>\n

The unbeaten light heavyweight faces Richard Rivera in a 10-round fight on the undercard of the unified junior middleweight title fight between Jaron Ennis and Xander Zayas at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. While Whittaker has fought exclusively in Britain as a professional, he says he has always felt a strong connection with fans in the United States.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think I get a lot of love over there. I\u2019ve been to New York numerous times, and every time I\u2019m there just walking the street, I get a lot of love,\u201d said Whittaker to the Stomping Ground. \u201cIt\u2019s a place I\u2019ve always wanted to fight. America, I think they get me a little bit more. They get the character. They get what I\u2019m trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whittaker has become one of the sport\u2019s most polarizing young fighters due to his flamboyant style and showmanship. While critics have accused him of focusing too much on entertainment, he believes his personality has helped attract new audiences to boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of kids. Some of the dads come up to me and say they don\u2019t even like boxing, they just wanted to come and see you do your dancing thing,\u201d Whittaker said. \u201cIt shows I\u2019m touching a different audience and hopefully that can bring more kids into the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whittaker enters the fight with momentum after stopping Liam Cameron in two rounds in April. Rivera represents a step up in experience, having previously challenged Badou Jack for a world title and losing a split decision in that bout.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Whittaker (11-0-1, 8 KOs) views Saturday\u2019s appearance as an opportunity to expand his profile in a market he has long targeted. A victory over the 35-year-old veteran Rivera would keep him moving toward the world-title level while giving American fans their first live look at one of Britain\u2019s most talked-about fighters.<\/p>\n

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Tom Galm is a boxing journalist who has covered the global fight landscape since 2014, specializing in heavyweight analysis, industry trends, and fighter psychology.<\/p>\n

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Last Updated on 2026\/06\/23 at 1:38 PM \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Whittaker believes American boxing fans have a better understanding of his personality and style than many supporters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-654921","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\/654921","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=654921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}