Comments Thread For: Talented Ben Whittaker well-prepared in his bid to put on a show in Saudi Arabia

[DClefthook]

DCLeftHook. I think I said this before but I'm happy to repeat it. I remember in 1994 Naz fought Vincenzo Belcastro. Naz was 18 or 19 & Belcastro was European champion, an enormously respected fighter & I believe he had fought for a world title. Everyone, I mean without exception everyone in British boxing said it was far too soon for Naz & a lot of people said Brendan Ingle should be ashamed for feeding a young kid to a wolf. I remember watching Naz completely outclass Belcastro. At the time I thought, 'this is by far & away the most talented Brtish boxer I've ever seen, he will be the British SRR'. Towards the end of the bout Naz really started showboating & the commentator, Reg Gutteridge, was disgusted & kept saying 'there is no need for that. He's a wonderful talent but I wish he wouldn't disrespect his opponent'. I don't remember the odds but I'm sure Belcastro would've been at least 6:4 on favourite. From then on in Naz fought world class opponents. I don't think he necessarily gets enough credit: Polo-Perez, Robinson, Medina, Johnson, Hardy, Cabrera, Kelley, McCullough, Vazquez... he literally cleaned out the 126 division & was completely dominant until he ran into Barrera.

In other words, no-one expected Naseem's opponents to be inferior until Naz turned out to be so good. By contrast, I can tell you that Whittaker's opponents are inferior because they are so bad. It is a ludicrous comparison.

I stand corrected sir!!! You truly are a British boxing fan no doubt and I'll take your word for it son! But I'm still gonna call you guys Liam!! hahahaha

[1Eriugenus]

'He's only got 8 pro fights , give him a minute.'

Hes also got an Olympic silver medal & I wouldn't mind so much if he shut his trap about how wonderful he is while humiliating his hired help & refusing to step up.

[Roberto Vasquez]

I'm asking this as an American who watched the whole "Prince Naseem to America' situation play out. I remember watching Prince on Tv embarrass guys over in the UK. We were anticipating this guy crossing the pond to fight one of ours. The build up to Prince vs Kelly was epic and so was the fight. But that leads me to ask why is Whittaker hated so much over there wneh Prince did the same exact thing to inferior fighters? Just asking.

Morons hate him (Whittaker). He's just doing his thing. It's all part of boxing. His showboating is not even that hard to counter - if you have a brain. Without checking I'm fairly sure Whittaker has fought better opposition than Hamed did at the same point in his career. Some of Hamed's early opponents had shocking records.

Some of the hatred of Whittaker might be because people felt conned by Hamed. Because they were - a little

[1Eriugenus]

Ok, let’s list everything wrong with Roberto Vazquez’s post.
1. Whittaker turned pro 2 years & 3 months ago. After 2 years and 1 month Naz had won the European title.
2. Even if it had been correct it makes no sense to compare someone who turned pro at 18 with hardly any amateur experience with someone who turned pro at 25 having won a silver medal
3. If you judge guys just on their records you really don’t know boxing. People like Buckley and Gargano acted as a sort of finishing school for young British fighters. Just look at the names on Buckley’s record! They emphatically didn’t come to lie down.

[CPNUTKnockoutFreshMart]

I stand corrected sir!!! You truly are a British boxing fan no doubt and I'll take your word for it son! But I'm still gonna call you guys Liam!! hahahaha

Have you seen the new kid ? Liam Callum Smith ?

[Clegg]

I'm asking this as an American who watched the whole "Prince Naseem to America' situation play out. I remember watching Prince on Tv embarrass guys over in the UK. We were anticipating this guy crossing the pond to fight one of ours. The build up to Prince vs Kelly was epic and so was the fight. But that leads me to ask why is Whittaker hated so much over there wneh Prince did the same exact thing to inferior fighters? Just asking.

Hamed was loved by a lot of people but also hated by quite a few as well. Henry Cooper was very popular in the UK and he publicly criticised him for disrespecting opponents, and one of the top boxing journalists had an argument with him.

[jqSide]

Didn't see him showboat in his last fight. Which made it less entertaining to watch. And I don't know why he's being attacked for it. As if all cards in boxing are entertaining.

[james240]

Best of luck to Ben, what an entertainer

Disrespectful douche more like it, easy to be a show pony fighting cans.