Ben Whittaker – Too good or too much? THE SURGEON DISPATCHES OF HIS OPPONENT WITH EASE AS HE DIVIDES OPINION BY SHOWBOATING TO ANOTHER STOPPAGE VICTORY
Light heavyweight prospect, Ben Whittaker was the centre of attention again after going viral on social media for his showboating antics.
‘The Surgeon’ dropped and then stopped Frenchman, Khalid Graidia in round 5 on the undercard of the WBA title final eliminator contest between Dan Azeez vs Joshua Buatsi, which Buatsi went on to win via a unanimous points decision.
Questions were raised about the level of opposition when this fight was initially revealed to be taking place, however, UK boxing fans were aware that Graidia is a very tough and durable opponent, aimed to give up and coming boxers a tough test. Despite Graidia’s record of 10 wins and 13 losses, he has given tough tests to the likes of Dan Azeez, Karol Itauma and Ezra Taylor whilst only being stopped by Zach Parker and now Ben Whittaker.
The 26-year-old Whittaker made this contest look comfortable and showed it by what some would call “excessively showboating”. But although the antics may have caught the eye of the fans, he displaced a very skilful display on Saturday night.
The head movement and hand speed are traits that should be recognisable within Ben by now, but it was showcased again, making him look levels above the opposition that he has been facing as of late.
Boxing fans will understand why Whittaker was matched against this opponent despite him saying he wants the winner of the main event (Azeez vs Buatsi). Having only five fights to his professional record before this bout, BOXXER promotor, Ben Shalom will want his fighter to build his record and give him experience to prepare him for tougher tests in the future, even though it looks obvious that he is dispatching of his opponents without any real difficulty.
Clips of Whittaker’s showboating has gone viral on social media, mostly X (formerly Twitter) where videos have been reaching over 10 million views each. O’Shea Jackson Jr, son of legendary rap icon, Ice Cube, even tweeted the compilation with the caption ‘Ay who is THIS dude?’ whilst the same video has appeared on popular X account with 1.1 million followers, ‘vids that go hard’ where it has hit 13 million views.
However, despite the success that the videos have been getting, boxing fans are still very much divided on their opinion of Ben.
Those in attendance at OVO Wembley arena made it clear that they were enjoying the taunting and showboating, cheering every time it happened and then booing every time the referee tried to stop him.
Boxing & UFC analyst, @elusiveraf summed it up perfectly on X, with a quoted retweet to O’Shea Jackson Jr’s reaction.
“Was very telling how the crowd booed every time the referee told Ben Whittaker off, for showboating. They liked it.
“For all the hatred that comes his way online, those in attendance do want to see him ‘be himself’ & everything that comes with the ‘Ben Whittaker experience’.”
Many spectators took to X to show their displeasure with ‘The Surgeon’s’ performance with one saying,
“Actually cannot stand this guy. Makes a mockery of professional boxing #UnpopularOpinionbutTrue”
Whittaker has responded to those who aren’t his biggest fans in the past by simply saying, “Like me or hate me you’ll tune in!”
And it looks like that is the case. Regardless of people’s opinions, they will watch to either see him win or see him lose, much like YouTuber turned boxer, Jake ‘The Problem Child’ Paul.
It’s evident that those who dislike the man from the West Midlands, think he’s disrespecting his opponents by dancing and in some cases, spinning 360 degrees in the ring. However, in his post-fight interview with talkSPORT Boxing, he wanted to clear up that assumption.
“Yeah, it’s one of those things. I’m not disrespectful at all, I didn’t swear at him, I made the crowd congratulate him. It’s just my style, you know. I frustrated him, brought him on and I hurt him a lot of times.”
When asked about the referee pausing the fight on a number of occasions to try and stop him from showboating, he replied,
“Some of these refs, some of these people, they don’t like it. I toned it down and hurt him (Graidia), got him out of there before he could do anything to me (the referee)”
So, with another opponent easily dispatched with style, what is next for Ben Whittaker? There have already been calls for him to fight the likes of Joshua Buatsi and Anthony Yarde but with Ben Shalom seemingly wanting to build his fighter’s brand to the biggest it possibly can be without too much of a risk of losing, it looks likely that although Whittaker will step up in level, it may still be a while before we see him really tested by someone who poses a real threat.
Until then though, he will continue to bring in thousands, if not millions of views with his antics rarely seen since the days of former featherweight world champion, Prince Naseem Hamed. Those who like to see it will enjoy and look forward to what’s to come whilst those who don’t will simply be tuning in, in hopes that they will get to see the Brit ‘humbled’.
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