Immediately following his decision win over the weekend, Ben Whittaker spoke to the media about his fight against Conor Wallace, which nearly ended in badly for him as he had to survive a late scare. Here’s some of what Whittaker had to say as he downplays the danger the faced in what could’ve been a big upset.
Whittaker on his performance against Wallace
“I was dominating every round. It got to a point where it was too easy if I’m honest, switched off him. Just ‘cause he won one round, two rounds max, you know, people think it’s an amazing
performance from him. But at the end of the day, I won, probably two rounds down in my opinion but on to the next. If he wants to get smoked again, he can do. But there’s still a lot to learn, we’re still with my coach, Andy. He’s saying some amazing things and I wavered off sometimes.
“I was trying to impress the crowd probably a bit too much but it’s all learning, 12 rounds under my belt. I’ve been cleaning them out a bit early now, and even in there I hurt him a lot, wobbled him a lot, and fair play to him, he kept coming back.”
On going through a tough stretch in the final round
“You need to be tested, man. You can’t swim without getting wet. At the end of the day it’s a fight, you’re going to get hit. And I liked he was rough in there, he was elbowing the back of the head, and it’s just part of the game…That’s what a fight’s about, man. I showed that I can swing it out.
“But you saw the first couple of rounds, I was juicy in there, making him miss, looking out of the ring. having fun. I probably had too much fun but it’s just neatening little things up and we’ll be all good, man.”
On if he feels ready to challenge Dmitry Bivol for the title immediately
“You never know, it’s down to Eddie [Hearn], down to Andy [Lee]…it would be nice as well to clean that [Wallace] kid out properly, but at the end of the day, I’ll be back in the gym as soon as possible.”
