Ben Whittaker, Softening on His Silver, Pays Tribute to Cuba’s Mario Kindelan

Olympic silver medalist Ben Whittaker, now making waves as a professional at light heavyweight, is softening towards the award he won at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Whittaker had been bitterly disappointed to miss out on gold in a loss to Cuban Arlen Lopez and was dejected returning to England with just a silver medal. But he admits that, over time, he is starting to feel pride in what he achieved.

“Both,” he said, when asked whether he was still disappointed or now happy with that part of his journey. “Because I went there, of course, and didn’t succeed with what I wanted. But when you look back, Olympic silver medal, it’s still talked about today. It’s opened up many doors, and from my area – West Midlands, Darlaston – not many people can say they’ve even been to the Olympics, let alone say that they’ve competed there and won a medal and put the Great Britain vest on. So, for me – especially in my household – it will go down as history.”

Whittaker admits it has only added to his desire to turn Olympic silver into professional gold so that he will not feel similar emotions again.

“I still think it has me getting up and working hard so I don’t feel that feeling again,” he said. “This morning I was in the gym early, yesterday we did three sessions. I always like to do one more, just so I know I won’t lose again. I met [Floyd] Mayweather and he said to me, ‘Forget the Olympics, medals just collect dust.’ And, sadly, that’s what the medal’s doing now – it’s just collecting dust.”

Mayweather suffered his own Olympic heartbreak with a controversial loss to Serafim Todorov in Atlanta in 1996, but Whittaker still takes inspiration from Olympic heroes of the past.

Many fighters look to elite professionals, and some have said Whittaker’s showboating ways remind them of Naseem Hamed, the enigmatic Hall of Fame featherweight from Sheffield, England, but that is not where he has got his style from.

“Yeah, I’d never actually watched Naz,” Whittaker admitted. “But when I was doing the ringwalk [third fight against Jordan Grant in Birmingham], I’d just signed with Adidas and thought, ‘Ah, I need a kit, something that will stand out. OK, people keep classing me as Naz, the kit makes sense. Let’s go for the Kevin Kelly fight because that fight kit was the best.’

“I watched a little bit [of the fight] to see if I liked the kit [the leopard print clothing Naz wore], and it was a great fight, great opportunity – British fighter going over there [to New York] and doing what he did and really conquering.”

But despite obvious similarities when it comes to showmanship, Whittaker looks elsewhere for inspiration.

“I don’t really like the style, if I’m honest, everyone laughs at that,” said the light heavyweight prospect. “I like more pure boxers; that’s what I like to watch. In my house, I grew up watching the Pernell Whitakers, Tommy Hearns, of course Floyd Mayweather, James Toney, Roy Jones. But I love Cuban boxing and Cuban amateur boxing, and my favorite boxer of all time – pro or amateur – is Mario Kindelan. There’s something about him. He’s so clean, makes a fight look easy, and that’s the person that got me into the sport. And if people know [him], he’s a pure boxer. That’s more exciting than hopping on one leg for me, but I can just do it.”

Whittaker (7-0, 5 KOs) will meet Eworitse Ezra Arenyeka (12-0, 10 KOs) at Selhurst Park on June 15 in his next fight.