{"id":686720,"date":"2026-07-11T23:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/686720\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T23:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:03:16","slug":"frank-smith-defends-ben-whittakers-opponent-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/686720\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Smith Defends Ben Whittaker&#8217;s Opponent Selection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve stepped up opponents,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe fact he\u2019s gone in there and dealt with those opponents in the way he has, that just shows the class of Ben Whittaker,\u201d said Smith to talkSPORT Boxing.<\/p>\n<p>Smith said Matchroom has no intention of rushing Whittaker before the team believes he is ready.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to step up and go on that journey to build him into the position to become a superstar, not just for six months or 12 months, but for the next five, six, seven years,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe has all the potential in this sport to be a superstar. He\u2019s delivering inside the ring, and outside the ring, he delivers as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The interview followed Hearn\u2019s heated exchange with a journalist who questioned whether Matchroom was matching Whittaker aggressively enough. Hearn rejected the criticism, saying the team\u2019s decisions would be based on what was best for the fighter\u2019s career rather than outside opinions.<\/p>\n<p>Whittaker has quickly become one of British boxing\u2019s most recognizable personalities, combining his amateur pedigree with an entertaining style and growing popularity. While some observers believe he is ready for a significant jump in competition, Matchroom continues to favor a measured approach.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s comments suggest that strategy is unlikely to change. Instead, the company plans to keep increasing the level of opposition while aiming to position Whittaker for major fights over the coming years rather than accelerating his rise for the sake of public perception.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Youtube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783810996_622_hqdefault.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ve stepped up opponents,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe fact he\u2019s gone in there and dealt with those opponents in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-686720","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\/686720","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=686720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}