Olympic silver medalist Ben Whittaker will be looking to make a big statement in his upcoming pro debut, which takes place this Saturday night.

Whittaker, on the back of his impressive run at the Tokyo Olympic Games, will be in action on the Chris Billam-Smith vs Isaac Chamberlain undercard at the Bournemouth International Centre, live on Sky Sports.

Whittaker's debut opponent will be Greg O'Neill, who during his career went the six round distance with Anthony Ogogo.

The British fighter is drawing inspiration from the pro debut of another Olympian, former five division world champion Floyd Mayweather.

"People like Mayweather, look at their debut, just showed what level they were at and that's what I want to do," Whittaker told Sky Sports. "No disrespect to the kid but I'm going to show what level I'm at. I'm a different level. People are talking about me for a reason. I'm just going to show it.

"I'm looking to come out and just be Ben Whittaker. I'm getting a lot of comparisons of old Roy Jones, Tommy Hearns, but at the end of the day I'm me. I'm Ben Whittaker. Everybody knows me as a beautiful boxer so first things first, that's going to happen but I want to show that I'm spiteful and I can hurt now. I'm putting these Grant gloves on now and when I hit somebody I know they're going to hurt so I'm excited."

Whittaker already has a veteran trainer in his corner, SugarHill Steward, who works with several other top fighters - like WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

Whittaker was in training camp with Steward in Miami, Florida to prepare for the fight.

"It was a good experience, out of my comfort zone, I learned a lot. You were a bit like fresh meat. You walk into the gym. Everybody knows you're an Olympic medalist, they want to try you, you're a bit tired from the heat and stuff like that," Whittaker said.

"Taking yourself out of your comfort zone like that is only going to benefit you and make you a stronger-minded person. Each day I learned. I got some new teammates, and it was a good thing."