Ben Whittaker will face Benjamin Gavazi, from Germany, in his first fight after signing with Matchroom. Eddie Hearn revealed that they were close to finalizing the deal three years ago. Whittaker (9-0-1, 6 KOs) will headline an event in his hometown, Birmingham, on November 29. This will be the first fight of the Olympic silver medalist under Matchroom promotion, after debuting as a professional with Boxxer, promoters based in the UK, in 2022. Hearn explained that the 1.90-meter English boxer, with 3.5 million social media followers, was close to signing with Matchroom in 2022.
“We prepared a great promotional session with him and filmed everything while finalizing the last details of the contract. Then, Boxxer appeared with a large amount of money and outbid us, just when we had already filmed the promotion. I had never seen anything like that.” “It’s a phenomenal signing for us. For two or three years we had to watch his career continue. I’ve seen his following and even my children, when I told them we had signed him, knew all about him. “It’s better than people think, he just needs to believe in himself and stay active. I think he can win the light heavyweight world championship and if he gets that far, it will be huge.” Whittaker, 28 years old and a light heavyweight, last fought in April, where he stopped his English rival Liam Cameron in two rounds, after a technical draw against Cameron a year earlier, when the fight was stopped after an injury to Whittaker after falling out of the ring.“People don’t know that we agreed a deal with Ben Whittaker when he turned professional,” Hearn said.
Eddie Hearn
