Ben Whittaker insists he didn’t ‘quit’ after leaving his fight with Liam Cameron in a wheelchair.
Whittaker was struggling in his tough outing against fellow Briton Cameron before he was sent tumbling over the top rope and crashing to the canvas in the sixth round.
‘The Surgeon’ received medical treatment in the ring for damage to his ankle and back, and was ultimately forced to leave the ring in a wheelchair.
Criticism piled in for the talented prodigy, with many inside the boxing world, including his new rival Cameron, insisting he intentionally quit the fight.
Now, when opening up for the first time since the incident, he has lashed out at critics and maintains he did nothing of the sort.
“I don’t want to start blaming people it was just a weird thing that happened,” Whittaker told Seconds Out.
“He pushed on me there was only so much I could take, my back was breaking.
“I landed on my ankle funny. Of course there is a lot of stick, ‘oh he threw himself over the rope’.
“I’m not Rey Mysterio, this isn’t WWE. If I wanted to make up an excuse, I’d say my neck or my back.
“As in the video it looked like I landed on it funny. I went straight to the emergency room and had an MRI scan.
“It showed up an injury, the people around me saw the X-rays. I’ve done my rehab and now I’m back.
When asked if he was willing to prove his case with evidence of the injury, Whittaker added: “I went to the Olympics with a torn rotator cuff.
“I didn’t mention it then, it’s not the person I am. I don’t need to prove to people who don’t get in the ring.
“Most of these people can’t get in the ring. I know what happened and I know the injury.
“I will come back, beat his a** up and then move on to the next.”
The fight was ultimately called as a split draw, and Cameron was denied his fairytale win over Whittaker.
‘Benzo’ escaped without a stain on his perfect 8-0 record, but an immediate sequel is being demanded by British boxing fans.
Cameron has now signed with Queensberry Promotions, and is pushing for the opportunity to prove himself again.
Whittaker’s promoter Ben Shalom has insisted that it will take place in the new year, once the talented star is back to full fitness.
And Cameron insists he now has the beating of Whittaker, and believes he single-handedly crashed his rise to stardom.
“I just couldn’t believe all what was going on, there was a game plan to slowly break him down,” Cameron told talkSPORT.
“He was calling me slow and saying my body was like a potato, and it’s not looking good for him now.
“I feel like I’ve ruined his persona and career. He said he was going to make me a meme and now he’s the meme.
“Ben needs the rematch, it has to happen. There is no way out of it.
“Fans are going to demand it and all of his followers have given me the love and support.”
