Words by Shayni Solanki
Ben Whittaker’s the new star of British boxing – and there’s a lot more to him than hard punches and big wins.
Life’s looking pretty good for Ben Whittaker. For starters, he’s British boxing’s newest star boy, with two for two in his professional career. He’s also, for good measure, tall, charming and pretty damn charismatic. And yes, that matters – doesn’t exactly hurt, does it? Over an hour, I spoke to the 25-year-old about all things boxing, life, and everything in between. “British boxing? I’ll be running that,” he says when asked what he envisions for himself in the next five years. Confidence, then, is not exactly a problem – but neither is being good at the day job. By all accounts, the 25-year-old is a serious talent. He took home a silver medal with Team GB in Tokyo 2020, knocked out Greg O’Neill in his professional debut, and he got the attention of the biggest name in British boxing: Anthony Joshua. Now, he’s busy training in Miami ahead of his big return to professional boxing later this year.
He’s a man with clout, and a quick glance at the comments under his fight videos is enough to discover the amount of expectation on his shoulders. Not that you’d know looking at or talking to the man, though: “In all walks of life there’s pressure. People go to their normal jobs and they feel the pressure of the job, but I like it – and I thrive off that [pressure].” He’s young, yes – but not exactly new to this. He’s been boxing since the age of 11, introduced to the sport, he says, by his dad: “When I was 11, my dad used to wake me up at six in the morning and we would go running, and then our school had the option of going home for lunch, so I used to go to train and then I’d go back to school. At six o’clock I’d go boxing and it’s been like a routine like that ever since”.
Boxing was his dad’s way of introducing some discipline. He was hyperactive, or so they thought – until he was officially diagnosed with ADHD. An outlet for burning some energy quickly became a passion. He was always a natural (his words, not mine), and he effortlessly took to the sport. The line between confidence and arrogance can sometimes be blurred – but not with Whittaker. The charm is infectious, the chat is easy, and the personality is very likeable. Sports stars aren’t exactly the biggest charmers, and they’re often robotic, choosing to stick with odd rituals and habits in the name of success. Take the pre-fight ritual for example. Tommy “ the Hitman” Hearns got his hair cut before every fight, Mike Tyson enjoyed a pre-match cry, and Manny Pacquiao swears by a particular kind of soup. Whittaker, though, doesn’t care for all that. He lost faith in them after losing a match once. Now, he’s all about eating well, nice naps and a few episodes of Naruto. Ain’t that a form of pre-match ritual, you say? Potato, Pohtahto.
“British boxing? I’ll be running that”
His big fight against Greg O’Neill was a study of his style of fighting. Some call it ‘showboating’, he calls it rhythm: “Me, I’m having fun, I’m in that rhythm. When I’m in that rhythm it’s very hard to beat me.” He’s of the view that athletes don’t have to be boring to thrive, and he just might be right. In a sense, he’s part of the new generation redefining what it means to be a sports star. Balance is important – and so is having outside interests. Being serious all the time is just not it: “That’s one thing I really do like about myself, I’ll stay true to myself. So some people are telling me, oh, you should be media managed or they’ll have to talk to the media, but I want to be me. And I think that’s the best way to be, and that’s the image I want to leave for the kids coming up. Just be true to yourself, be true to where you come from, and you can’t go wrong”.
Growing up, he was one of the ‘weird kids.’ What that means I don’t exactly know. I ask, he explains: he wasn’t exactly one of the popular kids, he says. Fast forward 10 years, and it seems being the weird kid set him up pretty well. For the next generation of boxing talent, his message is pretty simple: “I didn’t like the way I was treated. It was like, ‘Oh, it won’t work for you’, and things like that. So I said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna make it happen’, and that’s what I did, and now, like you said, I’m one of the rising stars. So I’d say no matter what people say, if you truly believe in something, you can make it happen.”
Boxing aside, there’s a lot more to the Darlaston-born athlete. He’s mad – as in, MAD– for all things anime. His arm is adorned with tattoos of anime characters, and he can chat for days about every intricate detail. Hell, even his car is wrapped in the damn thing. He likes them all, he says – but there’s a special place in his heart for Naruto: “He was a little bit weird, he didn’t really know how to show himself. He got into trouble, which I did at school, and then he started working hard, became the Hokage and everybody loved him.” He could talk about the day job all day – and I get the feeling he could talk even longer if Anime was the subject. Whittaker’s no cookie-cut boxer, and he doesn’t want to be. His energy is just as equally fresh and different. The man’s a charmer, a real crowd-pleaser and all. He’s taking it all in his stride, breaking a sweat only when he has to. He’s chill, relaxed and all that good stuff. Life’s to be enjoyed, not rushed – at least according to him.
“That’s one thing I really do like about myself, I’ll stay true to myself.“
Like any keen 20-something in the modern world, sticking to one thing simply doesn’t cut it: “I think it’s good to not be stuck in one thing. While you’re young, I think you should just get experience, now too many people are serious these days, and that’s why I just try things I love. I might not be the best at it but I like it.” He’s a jack of all trades – and funny enough, a near master of all. In Toyko (with Team GB), he picked up music. Why, you ask? Why not, he’ll reply. It was during Covid, he says, when the whole stay-in-your-house-thing was the law of the land. That, video games, and whatever the hell he fancied helped him pass the time between fights and training. Whittaker is cool; and that is a good thing – especially for British boxing. Over the past few years, the sport has become more popular, with the masses regularly tuning in for the big fights. That is thanks, in part, to the new generation of British boxers. They’re good, young and cool. They’re down with the TikTok generation, generally have good style, and possess a decent level of je ne sais quoi.
For stars like Whittaker, it’s easy to get swept in boxing’s good moments. He stays grounded, he says, by having a good support network – and trusting himself: “I know why I’m doing it. I’m doing it to change my life and my family’s life. But of course, the people around you – good friends around you – want to see you win and support you and help you out.” He’s still pals with his crew from school, adding friends he’s made along the way to his close circle. And it’s on that note that we turn to London – or more specifically, why he doesn’t live here. It’s not for him, he says, choosing to reside in the nice (and crucially, quieter) area of Wednesbury: “I’m so lucky. Because of my job, I have been able to travel the world, but home’s home, I want to stay where I’m at, where all my friends are…I love the city, I just love it. That’s why I’ll do London when it’s poppin’, but I can’t imagine myself living there because it’s poppin’ if that makes sense.”
“I think it’s good to not be stuck in one thing. While you’re young, I think you should just get experience, now too many people are serious these days, and that’s why I just try things I love. I might not be the best at it but I like it.”
He’s done talking about boxing and all the rest of it – and so we turn to style. He’s in his transitional period. I don’t exactly know what that means – but judging by what he came in wearing, it’s all going pretty well. He used to be a designer man, the sort to rock up head to toe in Dior. Things are different, now, and the 25-year-old appreciates a good piece, wherever it comes from. ‘Subtle drip’, he calls it.
Ben Whittaker is a star, a real up-and-coming force to be reckoned with. He knows it, I know it, and soon the whole world will, too. Ain’t no fuss about the man, and he has enough good looks and charm to take the boxing world by storm. British boxing has produced its fair share of culture and sporting stars – and Whittaker, for damn sure, is one of its biggest talents.