Eddie Hearn believes Ben Whittaker is almost ready to take on the “absolute machines” at 175. He says that he’s on the cusp of taking on the big three at light heavyweight:
- Dmitry Bivol
- David Benavidez
- Artur Beterbiev
On Saturday, Whittaker (9-0-1, 6 KOs) will fight for the vacant WBC silver 175-lb title against Benjamin Gavazi (19-1, 13 KOs) in a 10-round fight at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England. That’s more of a beginning level for the 2020 Olympic Silver medalist, Whittaker. Gavazi isn’t ranked in the top tier.
“There are three levels on the way to the top. #1 is the domestic guys. You’ve got Craig Richards, Dan Azeez. You’ve got Willy Hutchinson. You’ve got Zach Parker,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about who Ben Whittaker must beat at the British level.
“Then you’ve got the level above that, which is Callum Smith, Anthony Yarde, and Buatsi. You should probably put Parker in that one. Then you’ve got Bivol, Benavidez, and Beterbiev. And these guys are absolute machines,” said Hearn.
Three contenders that Hearn left out of his list of second-level fighters are Imam Khataev, David Morrell, and Oleksandr Gvozdyk. Those guys are arguably better than Yarde, Buatsi, and Callum.
It’s questionable whether Yarde belongs at the second level at this point in his career. His performance against David Benavidez last Saturday night wasn’t that of a second-level fighter. It was more rudimentary.
“For me, Ben is coming to that third level right now. We’ve still got a long way to go. We’ve got to move in the right way to keep everybody excited to genuinely test him. But also prepare him for arguably one of the toughest divisions in the sport. We expect Ben to look great on Saturday night,” said Hearn.
Many fans would disagree with Hearn about Whittaker approaching the third level. He’s only one fight removed from his poor performance in his first fight against Liam Cameron in October 2024. He needs to be tested against a better fighter than Gavazi to show whether he’s going to pan out at the pro level.
At 28, Whittaker should be ready to fight the likes of David Morrell, Khataev, and Gvozdyk. If he’s not ready for them yet, he’s going to do well going up against third-level fighters like Benavidez, Beterbiev, and Bivol.