Ben Whittaker put himself in line for a maiden world light heavyweight title shot after destroying Richard Rivera in two rounds in Brooklyn on Saturday.
Whittaker, making his stateside debut on the undercard of Jaron Ennis’ seventh round stoppage of Xander Zayas, dropped Rivera in each of the first two rounds, before referee Michael Griffin waved off the contest.
The 29-year-old’s promoter, Eddie Hearn confirmed he would return to the UK in a headline bout in October.
‘The Surgeon’ scored a fourth straight knockout and retained his WBC Silver light heavyweight crown.
The Brit holds top three rankings in both the WBC and IBF, where Dmitry Bivol and David Benavidez hold the respective belts.
An immediate world title shot appears unlikely, although a match-up with several contenders are in the offing following another brutal performance.
Zak Chelli
Zak Chelli fired himself back into the picture with a candidate for upset of the year with his victory over former two-weight world champion, David Morrell in May.
The 28-year-old stunned Morrell with a 10th and final round stoppage in just his second fight at 175 pounds.
Chelli is ranked at four with the WBO and while Whittaker’s skill and speed would likely prove too much for the Londoner to handle, his win over Morrell was a clear indication of his threat at world level.
Craig Richards
Craig Richards has proven himself against the elite of the division, pushing Bivol close in a points loss in 2021.
The former world title challenger is on the hunt for another big opportunity after a vicious 12th round stoppage of Dan Azeez in Ghana in December.
The 36-year-old would provide the crucial level of experience ‘The Surgeon’ desperately needs and arguably the perfect bridging fight before a world title shot.
LET’S GET BEN WHITTAKER
CRAIG RICHARDS NEXT! pic.twitter.com/pKXzvf2XMG
— EverythingBoxing | Darshan Desai (@EverythingBoxi2) June 28, 2026
Anthony Yarde
A meeting with Anthony Yarde is the most commercially appealing.
Yarde has a wealth of experience with three world title attempts to his name.
The Londoner gave both Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev all they could handle, albeit in eventual stoppage defeats.
However, at 34-years-old and coming off a one-sided, seventh round loss to David Benavidez, Whittaker may be able to catch him at the right time.
Yarde appeared unable to pull the trigger against the ferocious Benavidez, although his almost 90% knockout ratio makes him a dangerous operator, even if he may be slightly diminished.
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