Ben Whittaker was overcome with emotion and broke down in tears for a brief moment during his post-fight press conference last night in Birmingham.
The flashy fighter stopped Liam Cameron in the second round of their highly-anticipated rematch following a controversial end to their initial meeting in Saudi Arabia. Back in October, the pair had to settle for a Technical Draw when they both were pushed out of the ring and Whittaker suffered an injury.
This time there was similar controversy as Whittaker hurt Cameron early and went in for the stoppage in the corner. However, without landing a majorly significant shot that wobbled or dropped his rival, the home fighter was dragged off by the referee and the fight called a TKO inside two.
Ben Whittaker broke down in tears during post-fight press conference
Following his victory, Ben Whittaker was clearly overjoyed with finishing a dark chapter in his career. He was mocked and believed to have been found out after the Saudi Arabian incident, but came back and showed his levels against a tricky operator.
While explaining his last few months since the injury, he began to get emotional and needed a minute to compose himself. “Truthfully, nothing’s changed if I’m honest,” he told the media. “I knew I should be doing that to people like Liam Cameron, no disrespect.”
When he started talking about “the six months out” and other “little things” that hurt him, he began to tear up. “My brother had two daughters and I couldn’t really enjoy it too much because of what I was going through online,” he explained.
“It didn’t really bother me but even close friends that I classed as family left me and had a lot to say about me. It was a great time to really just go back to the old Ben Whittaker before the Olympics, I locked in, trained hard and dedicated myself to the sport.”
Ben Shalom explains why Ben Whittaker was so emotional after TKO win
Following the fight, Whittaker’s promoter Ben Shalom was asked about the press conference moment during an interview with Ayman Khan of Seconds Out. He noted how difficult the past few months have been.
“He’s a human being and people were really trying to drag him down, really hurt him and make it painful,” Shalom noted. “They were praying on his downfall. Sometimes I find it very strange to pray on another man’s downfall.
“But this seems to be like part of the culture and he’s had to deal with that and it’s a lot for a 27-year-old. Name me one other fighter headlining nights like tonight after ten fights? Headlining, selling out arenas and attracting the amount of attention he is?
“He’s incredible for the sport, but he is a human being and a young human being and he was proud of himself as he matured. He’s come through a lot.”