AJ-Usyk: Ben Whittaker vows to wow on undercard of unified heavyweight world title showdown | Boxing News

Ben Whittaker is aiming to show the world what he is capable of as he prepares for his second professional contest on the undercard of the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.

The 2020 Olympic silver medallist made a blistering start to his career in the paid ranks with a second-round stoppage of Greg O’Neill on his debut in Bournemouth last month.

Whittaker now faces unbeaten Croatian Petar Nosic in Saudi Arabia on Saturday as part of the ‘Rage on the Red Sea’ card, live on Sky Sports Box Office, and while he is savouring the experience of being around a world-title fight, the 25-year-old wants to make his own mark too.

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“I’m treating this situation as an experience for me,” Whittaker said. “I believe I’ll be fighting for those belts one day and I just want to see what the fighters go through for a fight of this magnitude.

“It’s great to be here, but I’m not being funny – looking at some of the kids on this undercard, it needed someone like me here, ” Whitaker boasted.

“If you didn’t see it in Bournemouth, you’ll see it in Saudi. I’m too sweet, I’m too fast and I’m too quick – knock-out pending.”

The light-heavyweight has been working with SugarHill Steward, the trainer who oversaw Tyson Fury’s two wins over Deontay Wilder and this year’s stoppage victory against Dillian Whyte.

Whittaker has not spent much time dwelling on his performance against O’Neill either, instead preferring to look forward to the six-round clash with Nosic (6-0 (3)).

“What I did then [on his July 30 debut] is in the past now,” Whittaker said. “I’ve got to keep improving and Saturday’s the day I do another performance.

“So that’s all I’m doing now is putting my mind to that, hopefully it goes to plan the way I think it will do and the way my team thinks it will do and then if that goes to plan, we think about the next one.”

Despite his bold pronouncements as well, Whittaker is very much focused on ensuring he can back those up by putting in the hard yards outside of the ring too.

Indeed, he is determined to keep learning and improving in an effort to achieve his dreams of being the fighter topping the bill and duking it out for world titles.

“You’re always learning. As soon as you stop learning it’s time to call it a day.

“I’m learning a lot about myself, I’m maturing as a person, starting to sit down on my shots…I might come across as big-headed, but I’ve got my head screwed on.

“I know I’m not where I should be just yet. I’m still young. Truthfully what I’m doing right now I’m supposed to be doing – I’m supposed to be knocking these kids out.

“All I can do is keep level-headed, keep working hard, talk a bit of trash when needed as long as I put the work in and perform, that’s all I can do,” he concluded.

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Anthony Joshua’s huge heavyweight rematch against Oleksandr Usyk is on Saturday August 20, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Usyk vs Joshua 2 now!