Would Morrell Crush Whittaker in His U.S. Debut?

Eddie Hearn says he wants to take British light heavyweight contender Ben Whittaker to America for his next fight after knocking out Benjamin Gavazi in one round last Saturday night in Birmingham, England.

The Matchroom promoter Hearn states that the U.S fans would “love” Whittaker’s style of fighting. He wants to see who he can find for the unbeaten WBC Silver 175-lb champion Whittaker (10-0-1, 7 KOs) to fight.

David Morrell as a Potential U.S. Opponent

The U.S.-born top 10 light heavyweight contenders aren’t well known to American fans. It’s unlikely that Hearn would want to take the risk of matching Whittaker against some of the American-based contenders like these two:

• David Morrell – based in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Oleksandr Gvozdyk – based in Camarillo, California

If Hearn wants to have Whittaker win over U.S boxing fans, matching him against Morrell or Gvozdyk would be the way to do it in the short term. The problem is, the 28-year-old Whittaker would have a high probability of losing to both fighters. He’d be exposed as a fake by them.

Whittaker is a great domestic talent, but he’s not shown the kind of ability as a pro or amateur that suggests he would beat the 27-year-old Morrell (12-1, 9 KOs) or the former WBC light heavyweight champion Gvozdyk (21-2, 17 KOs). Still, if the idea is to turn Whittaker into a star in America, matching him against these two is the way to fast-track that goal.

Hearn is not going to turn Whittaker into a star by being sly about it, matching him against lesser U.S fighters, hoping to take a backdoor route to making a big name out of him in America. We’ve seen the matchmaking Hearn has done with his past American Matchroom fighters, like Shakur Stevenson, putting him in with an electrician, Josh Padley, perhaps hoping to impress U.S fans. It didn’t work. Americans didn’t like what they saw.

“There’s going to be a lot of pressure from DAZN in the UK to keep him over here because he does massive numbers. But they’ve got to buy into development as well. But I think he’d do really well in America. He has a massive fanbase there already socially,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Ring Magazine about Ben Whittaker’s next fight after blowing out Benjamin Gavazi in one round last Saturday night.

How U.S. Fans Perceive UK-Based Light Heavyweights

If Hearn keeps Whittaker in the UK, he’ll be viewed by American audiences as a domestic-level fighter along the same lines as Anthony Yarde, Joshua Buatsi, Callum Smith, and Willy Hutchinson. Interestingly, those are fighters that Hearn is excited about matching Whittaker against, which suggests he’s going to be just a UK-type fighter, and not viewed as true world-class. U.S fans’d view him as a bigger version of Conor Benn, a guy that is seen as a YouTuber-type of fighter.

“I think they’d [Americans] love his style and his showmanship. Yeah, it would suit us to fight an American opponent. We’ll see who that can be. There’s so many fights to be made. Everyone is talking about Buatsi, Yarde, Callum, and Benavidez is calling him out. We’re not going to be short of opponents.

Evaluating the Safer U.S. Names for Whittaker

• Richard ‘Popeye The Sailor Man’ Rivera
• Deon Nicholson
• Najee Lopez

“We just got to get it right with Ben. He’d had 11 fights. He’s a superstar in the making. He’s a worldwide talent. We’ve got to get the experience before we make the big gamble,” said Hearn.

The Age Problem: Nearly 29 and Still Being Protected

Whittaker is nearing 29 years old, and that’s not young for a fighter who is still being matched carefully by a promoter. He’s older than the 27-year-old Morrell, who is already a former two-division world champion with only 13 pro fights. If Whittaker isn’t the real thing, it’s useless for Hearn to maneuver him around the dangerous predators at 175. He can’t be protected into his 30s from the wolves, like Morrell, David Benavidez, Gvozdyk, and Imam Khataev.