Ben Whittaker Resurrects Reputation, Then Ruins It Again

Whittaker claimed he was too injured to fight on. Cameron wanted to continue. The fight went to the scorecards and was scored a draw, as Whittaker dramatically left the ring in a wheelchair.

Whittaker's reputation was in tatters, worse than if he'd taken a loss. Fans were tired of Whittaker focusing on his swaggy image and less on the skills that won him Olympic glory.

A rematch was not merely inevitable; it was demanded by British fight fans. The rematch date came on Easter Sunday in Birmingham.

In the meantime, Whittaker moved to Ireland to train with the well-respected Andy Lee. The consensus in the boxing world: Whittaker needed to deliver a statement win.

Statement Made With Whittaker KO of Cameron

Whittaker (9-0-1, 6 KOs) did just that, blasting out Cameron (23-7-1, 10 KOs) in the second round. Whittaker landed a big right hand, throwing Cameron off-balance and back to the ropes. Whittaker pounced on his opportunity and pounded away at Cameron, who offering nothing in return. Referee Howard Foster stopped the fight at 1:53 of the round.

So far, so good. Then Whittaker did what Whittaker does. He ran across the ring to Cameron's corner, shoving his head through the ropes to taunt Cameron's trainer Grant Smith, father of British prospect Dalton Smith. Smith barely missed slapping Whittaker in return, thanks to Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom grabbing Whittaker and yanking him back into the ring. Observers weren't sure whether they saw Whittaker spit at Smith.

Will The Real Ben Whittaker Stand Up?

What should have been a triumphant return to the ring to silence Whittaker's doubters and another feather in the cap for trainer Lee turned into another Whittaker eruption of bad behavior. Once again, Whittaker had to defend his actions.

"Listen, you and everybody boo me, man," said Whittaker. "They portray me as a bad guy. But at the end of the day, I worked very hard, my emotions came out, and I was roaring like a lion. If a little bit of dribble came out, a bit of dribble came out, at the end of the day, Jesus is King, and he's the one that put the spirit in me tonight to perform the way I did."

Andy Lee Defends Ben Whittaker

Andy Lee stepped forward to make the case for Whittaker, putting his own spotless reputation as a trainer on the line.

"Listen, no one can underestimate what this man has gone through in the last six months since the first fight with Cameron. Mentally, the barrage of insults, and he's – the fact that he's still standing here in the ring tonight. Not many people could put up what he's gone through, and he's still here, and he's still standing, and he's performing like that. His emotions are bound to get carried away. This is a champion.

"Listen, I know for a fact I'm not going to spend time with somebody who's not worthy of my time," declared Lee. "This guy is the best person you will ever spend time with, and he is an emotional guy, and he did lose control, but that's only natural, considering all he's been through in the last six or seven months."

Whittaker said there is no remaining bad blood between himself and Cameron. "Fair play to Liam, we spoke in the ring, and he said, 'No one's ever hit me like that.' And then I hugged him and thanked him.

"What happened in Saudi needed to happen. It made me open up the door. It made me work harder. I'm still flashing. I'm still swaggy. He saw me on that ring walk. It was beautiful. When I came in here, I was very disciplined. And people know now I can hit, dare I say."

Whittaker thanked Lee for taking him on. "A lot of people, after a fight like that, they washed their hands of me, and I liked it. But Andy came out and said, 'Look, I know what you've got inside here. Come to Ireland and let me show you what you can do'. And that's what we did."

Whittaker said the sudden change in his life, coming from "a humble family" after winning at the Olympics, turned things upside down, and admitted getting lost in it. "But what I did was calm down, go to Ireland, lock in, and you saw Ben Whittaker there, the real Ben Whittaker."

Whittaker's Future?

Publicly at least, Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom backed up Whittaker. "I'm just so proud of him. I'm so proud of him. To see what he's gone through in the past six months is incredible. I won't wash it.

As for Whittaker's next opponent, Shalmom said, "I want anyone. But he's just proved what he is, and that is an elite light heavyweight that's going to go right to the top of the sport. I'm so happy for him, happy for his family, but the future is so, so bright. This is the biggest star in British boxing, and he's going to prove that."

Yes, Whittaker looked sharp once he got in the ring, after indulging a ringwalk with a full gospel choir. But Whittaker is dangerously close to crossing the line where his antics tip the scales to becoming too great a liability by polarizing the boxing public.

But maybe Whittaker was just hangry. After the fight, he said all he wanted to do was go to Five Guys because he was sick of "that broccoli and rubbish" diet in training camp in Ireland.

Cameron, age 34, battled drug and alcohol abuse, but has dug himself out and won over the crowd despite the loss. There will be controversy over an early stoppage, but Cameron's brain was rattled and he risked being seriously hurt if allowed to take more hard shots from Whittaker. Given his success with his struggle over addiction, far better to let him recover to fight another day.

Frazer Clarke Gets Comeback KO

Whittaker's Team GB Olympic bronze-winning teammate, heavyweight Frazer Clarke of Burton-on-Trent (9-1-1, 7 KOs), bounced back from his devastating rematch loss to Fabio Wardley last October with a first-round knockout against Ebeneezer Tetteh of Accra, Ghana (23-3, 20 KOs). Clarke came straight at Tetteh from the bell, much as Wardley came at him in the rematch. He quickly dropped Tetteh, who beat the count, only to be met with a heavyweight right hook, a one hitter quitter blasting him back into the corner. Referee Howard Foster immediately stopped the fight. Tetteh grabbed Foster in protest, but it was the right call and the fight was over, much to Clarke's relief.

"Thank you to everyone who stuck by me because it has been difficult. I knew I hit him with a big shot, and I knew he wasn’t all there, and that was enough. I think the ref did a good job," said Clarke. “I have been crying out for that kind of performance since my debut. I have come through some dark times, so that feels amazing," said Clarke, who said the adversity he faced made him stronger in the end.