Ex-fighter and pundit Matthew Macklin believes that Ben Whittaker is now at a pivotal stage in his career, ahead of his rematch with Liam Cameron on 20 April.
The first time the pair went toe-to-toe ended with Whittaker being wheeled out of the arena in Riyadh, after sustaining injuries when both fighters crashed over the top rope and out of the ring in the fifth round. The Olympic silver medalist could not continue and the fight was scored a technical draw.
Cameron, who entered the fight as a substantial underdog, has since accused Whittaker of “looking for a way out” back in October.
Whittaker has now been warned by Macklin that his “career is on the line” this weekend when he rematches Cameron at the BP Pulse Live arena in Birmingham.
The ex-fighter told Sky Sports Boxing: “The stakes are very high for Ben Whittaker, I think a lot of people would say his career is on the line here. Certainly in terms of where his trajectory was when he turned over, people thought he was destined to become a world champion.
“If he can’t get past Liam Cameron then I think people will certainly look to revise that opinion.
“It ended in bizarre circumstances, a bit of a freak incident, obviously he couldn’t continue then with what I think was the back injury.
“Whatever it was, the fight wasn’t going his way. He was starting to unravel and Cameron was on top.”
Ahead of the fight on Easter Sunday, Macklin reiterated how important this rematch will be for the 27-year-old: “He needs a much better performance in the rematch, a lot better. I mean night and day levels of performance, he’s got to turn up a completely different Ben Whittaker if he’s going to get the win over Cameron on Sunday.”
