{"id":897302,"date":"2026-04-16T05:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/897302\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T05:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:29:16","slug":"ben-whittaker-will-be-awarded-spot-on-big-us-undercard-if-he-wins-next-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/897302\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Whittaker will be awarded spot on big US undercard if he wins next fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Whittaker will be heading across the pond if he beats Braian Suarez on Saturday night.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Olympic silver medallist is set to square off against Suarez<\/a> in a makeshift main event at the Liverpool Arena.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Whittaker stopped Gavazi with a thunderous right hand in the first round at the back end of last yearCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Whittaker-Suarez was boosted to the headline slot after Callum Smith<\/a> was forced out of his WBO interim light-heavyweight title fight against David Morrell with an undisclosed injury.<\/a><\/p>\n

The last time Suarez (21-4) boxed on British shores, he dragged Lyndon Arthur into deep waters, dropping the Mancunian before eventually succumbing to a tenth-round body shot knockout loss.<\/p>\n

The Argentine serves as a slight step up in opposition for Whittaker (10-0-1) after he flattened an overmatched Benjamin Gavazi <\/a>in his first fight under the Matchroom Boxing banner last November.<\/p>\n

Providing he comes out of the bout unscathed, his new promoter, Eddie Hearn<\/a>, insists that Whittaker will have a quick turnaround on the Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs Xander Zayas undercard on June 27 in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON BOXING <\/p>\n

\u201cBen Whittaker<\/a> fights Suarez, who\u2019s a big power puncher,” said Hearn during a recent appearance on the Ariel Helwani Show.<\/p>\n

“This is a big moment for Ben, a big run, because if he\u2019s successful on Saturday, he\u2019ll go on the Boots against Xander card for his American debut at the Barclays Center.<\/p>\n

“It would be huge for him, so he must win on Saturday.”<\/p>\n

Xander Zayas vs Jaron Ennis: A big platform for Ben Whittaker<\/p>\n

Unified WBA and WBO super welterweight champion Zayas will defend his belts against Ennis in one of the biggest US boxing bouts of the year.<\/p>\n

Zayas (23-0) picked up the WBO belt last July with a disciplined unanimous decision victory over Mexico’s Jorge Garcia.<\/p>\n

The Puerto Rican technician would subsequently snatch the WBA belt from Abass Baraou in his next outing before seeking out the toughest fight in the division against ‘Boots’.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Ennis challenges Zayas for his WBA and WBO super welterweight titles in JuneCredit: GETTY<\/p>\n

Former unified WBA and IBF welterweight champion Ennis (35-0) moved up to 154lbs last October, blowing away Uisma Lima inside one round for the WBA interim belt.<\/p>\n

He had been locked into negotiations to face Vergil Ortiz Jr in April.<\/p>\n

However, the bout collapsed after Ortiz Jr filed a lawsuit against his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, alleging breach of contract and “interference with economic advantage” as justification to have his deal voided.<\/p>\n

Whittaker had been lined up to feature on the Ennis-Ortiz Jr undercard<\/a>, and that offer has now carried over to the Zayas fight.<\/p>\n

According to Hearn, they have already sold 10,000 tickets for Zayas-Ennis and are on course to sell out the Barclays Center.<\/p>\n

The event will act as a massive platform for Whittaker to introduce himself to the US audience.<\/p>\n

Boxing schedule<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out\u00a0talkSPORT.com’s\u00a0 boxing schedule<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Whittaker will be heading across the pond if he beats Braian Suarez on Saturday night. The Olympic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4108],"tags":[12924,1935,4496,252986,7555,12434,77663,79,16,15,252987],"class_list":["post-897302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-ben-whittaker","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-braian-suarez","tag-date","tag-eddie-hearn","tag-location","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-whittaker-vs-suarez"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116412742145903919","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}