Ben Whittaker needs a medal so he can get back home!

After genuine medal prospect Peter McGrail’s surprise first-round exit from the featherweight division on day one, Team GB’s male boxers needed a pick-me-up and Whittaker provided it 24 hours later.

Facing dangerous Colombian Jorge Luis Vivas Palacios in the last 32 of the men’s light heavyweight, the Black Country boxer showed control to earn a points victory – four judges giving him the nod, three unanimously, and just one giving Vivas Palacios the edge.

It’s only the first step on the journey for Whittaker, who has his sights set on the podium, but he was pleased to shake off the cobwebs.

“There was a little bit of ring rust but it was important to get the first one out of the way,” said the likeable 24-year-old. “We had one of those days as a squad yesterday where we won one [women’s featherweight Karriss Artingstall] and lost one [McGrail] so it was a bit upsetting, but you have to just push on. It’s a single-minded sport even though we’re teammates, so I had to just get on with it.

“I feel like I’m peaking now. I’m 24 and I’ve got the whole world ahead of me if I switch on and stay focused. I want that medal. I can call myself an Olympian when I’ve done the job.

“My dad said to me before I left that if you don’t get a medal, especially the gold, then I should stay here! To be honest I love it here, so I actually wouldn’t mind, but I know I’ve got to go back to the West Midlands with something shiny.”

While his current ambition is to claim an Olympic boxing medal, it could have been so different if Whittaker’s teenage self had got his way.

The youngster, who was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, was a keen footballer but a reality check about his abilities from his dad put him firmly on the boxing path.

“I wasn’t a naughty kid but I had so much energy, especially in a classroom setting where I just couldn’t concentrate,” added Whittaker, whose tilt at Tokyo glory is being broadcast live on Eurosport and Discovery+. “So my dad said, ‘you know what, for a bit of discipline and to burn off that energy, we’ll take him to the boxing gym’.

“Truthfully I didn’t like it at first – who likes getting hit in the face? I’d rather have played football but I had two left feet. I got to about 15 and my dad said I had to make a choice, boxing or football. But he said, ‘as your dad...you’re terrible at football’. I went, ‘thanks dad!’

“So I stuck to the boxing and didn’t know where I’d get. I took it step by step and now I’m in the Olympics, so my mentality is just to believe in yourself and keep proving people wrong.”

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