Wolverhampton’s hot prospect Ben Whittaker took his professional record to seven without defeat on the undercard or the Wardley, Clarke fight at the O2 arena London (30.3.24). The show promoted by Boxxer and aired live on Sky sports was Whittaker's fourth eight round contest as he took on the very Game Leon Willings in this light Heavyweight contest. Willings (23) from Merseyside came into this fight with an impressive record of seven wins out of eight contests and was the current central area light Heavyweight champion. Both fighters weighed in twelve stone nine with Sean McAvoy reffing.
Whittaker looked like he was hoping to make it an early night as he started the fight strong with no showboating with sharp jabs and back hands with Willings looking like he was going to be over whelmed. Whittaker had Willings down in the first with some great shots, Willings got to his feet and continued seeing the round out letting some leather go at the end of the round giving Whittaker chance to showcase his movement as he avoided them all. Whittaker continued to box well controlling the fight and picking his shots well going head and body with Willings standing strong and landing some shots of his own. As the fight continued Willings seemed to be growing in confidence as he let bursts of shots go landing on Whittaker who was still in full control. Hardly any show boating by Whittaker as he put nice combinations together and landed eye catching shots but vould not land the big finisher as Willings showed get head movement to see the final bell.
The ref scored it 78 to 73 Whittaker I had it 79 to 73 Whittaker
Dexter’s Thoughts
I got to say this was a very good performance by Whittaker who kept the show boating to a minimum and showcased his boxing skills. Willings was a very durable opponent and he did show that Whittaker is far from the finished article as he landed some good shots, but this proved that Whittaker can can take one. I have no doubt that Whittaker has the potential to be a great fighter and win big titles but I think he needs a few more fights before he even thinks of moving up to the likes of Ricky Summers or Shakan Pitters but it will be very interesting to see how he fars against the higher level fighters.