It’s always eventful when Ben Whittaker takes to the stage.
On Saturday, on the Chris Billam-Smith vs Richard Riakporhe undercard at Selhurst Park, he boxes the ‘African King’ Ezra Arenyeka, live on Sky Sports.
From the beginning the build-up to their contest has been ill-tempered. Whittaker is a high-profile, Olympic silver medallist, while Arenyeka, despite sporting an unbeaten 12-0 (10) record, was largely unknown until he abruptly confronted Whittaker ahead of his last fight.
Perhaps against his better judgement, Whittaker decided to give him this opportunity on June 15.
“Fair play, good record, he came through the doors kicking and screaming. But this is probably the only time I’ll accept something like this. Because you don’t want to keep doing this and people will keep running up for their opportunities. At the end of the day you have to work for that position,” Whittaker told Sky Sports.
“It just made sense here.”
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Whittaker became engaged in a wild scuffle with Arenyeka ahead of their grudge fight at Selhurst Park
But he fully intends to teach Arenyeka a lesson. “That’s what we’re trying to say – be careful what you ask for,” he said. “If I go out there and do what I can do, it’s a statement in itself.
“If I box the way I box, a style like that for me is tailor-made.”
He has noted Arenyeka’s apparent confidence, and reacted venomously when his opponent charged towards him after they had weighed in on Friday.
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Whittaker launched a stinging verbal attack on Arenyeka and warned Saturday’s fight will get ‘scarier and scarier’
Whittaker warned: “I can stand there and fight if I need to. I can move and box if I need to. I can mix it. The good thing is I can do a bit of both. He can only do one thing and if he does try and box me it’ll be even worse. His game plan will be run at me and hope for the best.
“At the end of the day this will be like his World Cup final so his first round will be his best round. But being in a situation like this, a big arena, big fight, all that plays a part and I’ll use my experience to make sure it just deafens him.”
The Wolverhampton fighter can combine mazy defensive movement with spiteful punching, as well as his now famous showboating.
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Whittaker showed off some dance moves ahead of sending a message to Arenyeka
Landing on him, Whittaker says, is “easier said than done”.
“From the outside it might look like oh I can hit him with this, hit him with that,” he continued. “[I’m] just riding the punches, you’re in range and they’re slipping past your whiskers. That’s an art in itself. There are not many people who can do that in such close range.
“[Previous opponent Khalid] Graidia actually is fast whereas this kid is a bit slower so I might have a lot of time to make myself a cup of tea during it.”
Those deficiencies in Arenyeka’s boxing, Whittaker cautions, will be punished. “I’ve definitely shown when I need to, I can whip them in and hurt them,” he said.
“But my beauty is boxing IQ, my boxing skills, when you’ve got that you can walk them onto shots they don’t even see.”
Final remaining tickets for Billam-Smith vs Riakporhe available via Boxxer.com.
Watch Chris Billam-Smith defend his WBO cruiserweight world title against Richard Riakporhe at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park, live on Sky Sports on Saturday June 15; or Stream with NOW
