Ben Whittaker silenced his critics with a second-round knockout win over Liam Cameron.
Birmingham – Ben Whittaker (9-0-1, 6 knockouts) made a clear statement on Saturday night. The British light heavyweight dominated his national rival Liam Cameron (23-7-1, 10 knockouts) and celebrated an explosive second round T.K.O. victory at the Resorts World Arena.
After a public contract dispute over the number of rounds – originally scheduled for 12 rounds, the rematch was reduced to 10 rounds at Whittaker’s request – the Olympic silver medalist delivered an answer that was quite something.
Whittaker put an exclamation mark early on in the second round: In an exchange of punches, he caught Cameron cold with a right straight that found its way right on target. Whittaker immediately smelled a rat and followed up with a powerful right hand to the skull of his opponent. Cameron staggered backwards into the ropes, where a wild volley of punches awaited him – referee Howard Foster had seen enough and stopped the fight at 1:53 minutes.
“Respect to Liam,” said Whittaker in an interview with Sky Sports after the fight. “He told me in the ring that no one had ever hit him like that before. What happened in Saudi had to happen. I’m still flashy, I’ve still got swag – but today I came into the ring disciplined. Now people know I have punching power too.”
Frazer Clarke returns with a lightning knockout
There was also spectacular action on the undercard: heavyweight Frazer Clarke (9-1-1, 7 knockouts) made an impressive return after his bitter defeat to Fabio Wardley. The Olympic bronze medalist left nothing to be desired against the experienced Ghanaian Ebenezer Tetteh (23-3, 20 knockouts).
Clarke started aggressively, landing two clean right hands early on that drove Tetteh backwards into the ropes. A hard left-right combination followed – the referee ended the unequal duel after just 1:52 minutes in round one.