Ben Whittaker has admitted he was guilty of looking too far ahead in the build up to his first contest with Liam Cameron last October.

The pair will rematch this Sunday (April 20) at the bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham, England, after a controversial ending to their first encounter.

Whittaker, 27, was a heavy favorite going into the fight after dismantling previous opponents with relative ease – and taunting them whilst doing so. His in-ring antics had made Whittaker a star, with videos of him spinning round on one leg before landing a jab going viral online.

Many expected Whittaker to deal with Cameron in a similar manner but that was not the case. The experienced underdog took the fight to Whittaker and pushed the pace. After five difficult rounds and several hard body shots, Whittaker looked to be feeling the pace. As the sixth session came to a close Whittaker and Cameron fell over the top rope and landed in a heap on the canvas.

Whittaker could not continue, citing injuries to his right ankle and back, and the fight went to the scorecards. The contest was ruled a split-decision draw, and many accused Whittaker of taking the easy way out after the contest seemed like it was heading in the direction of Cameron.

Whittaker quickly discovered the ugly side of social media as he was widely slated for pulling out and accused of faking his injuries. 

“It's one of those, a lot of people say this, but when they see me, I'm not trying to proclaim I'm this bad man or a big scary person, but they won't say it to me,” Whittaker told BoxingScene. “They'll say it under aliases on Instagram or YouTube or stuff like that. But people who know me, know what I've been through in the amateurs. I had a real, real bad injury and I still went to the Olympics, got a medal. My first part of my career, I had a real, real bad injury, carried on with a couple of fights, but I had to have a break and get that sorted.

“And then something like this that happened in the ring, if you can't continue, you can't continue. But at the end of the day, these things do happen. And that's why we're here now. It don't matter what happened, why would I put myself in a situation where the injury was bad enough, but it could have been really bad. If you see the first clip I was on my neck, one wrong move with his weight on me, it could have been really bad. So, I wouldn't put myself in a position like that where I might not be able to box again. But a lot of people got stuff to say all the time.”

Since the backlash from fans online Whittaker has taken a break from social media and refocused his mind on the sport that brought him the fame he now has. 

“I’ve just been chilling, really, just being myself before all this fame and Instagram stuff,” Whittaker said. “Because, at the end of the day, when I went to the Olympics and stuff, I was just boxing, just boxing, just being me. And then when you turn pro, of course you do a bit of media, and my media was blowing up, and it was taking a lot of time, really. So for me, it's good. I've just been able to just focus on myself, focus on the people around me. And I kind of liked it. It was quite good, to be fair.”

Prior to his contest with Cameron, Whittaker’s promoter Ben Shalom had talked up a potential fight in America for the young star whose burgeoning digital presence had made him one of the hottest prospects in boxing, and everyone seemingly wanted a slice of the young star. Whittaker admitted these opportunities may have made him overlook Cameron.

“Maybe so, yeah, because like for me, I'm always like, I like to look down the line,” he said. “And for me, I was like, yeah, after this, New York, after this, I'll do this, after this. And sometimes it's good to just be in the present. And I think that's the main thing that this has taught me, to stay in the present, don't think about the future. And then when you get the present right, the future will come. That's how I treat it now.

“And one good thing is I used to put, I wouldn't say pressure, but I used to put everything on boxing, boxing, boxing, boxing. And sometimes that's draining too. You just heard the news of Joe [Gallagher] being diagnosed with cancer. Things like that, man, some things are bigger than boxing, some things are bigger than life itself. And when people are going through those situations, at the end of the day, it's only a fight. And that mindset's made me nice and calm and cool, and I'm good now.

“It is a barbaric sport, but at the end of the day, it is just a sport,” he continued. “I'm a winner at heart and I love to win everything I do. I want to win and I will win. But sometimes you kind of just overthink it, overdo stuff and sometimes just let it flow, man. And I think that's the greatest lesson I got from this, just being in the present, just focus on the now and move on.”