Coach: Olympics heartbreak will fuel Ben Whittaker's fire

The 24-year-old light-heavyweight had to settle for silver at Tokyo 2020 after losing on a split-decision to Cuba’s Arlen Lopez in yesterday’s gold medal bout.

An emotional Whittaker claimed to feel ‘like a failure’ in the immediate aftermath and later apologised after refusing to wear his medal on the podium.

But Joby Clayton, his coach at Wolverhampton’s Firewalker gym, felt the reaction to defeat merely highlighted a winning mentality.

He said: “Benjamin has the mindset of a winner. He does not set his alarm to get up on a cold, wet morning to get a silver medal.

“He does not sacrifice all of the things he does and go the extra yards he goes to lose in a final. Although I would love him to sit back and say ‘you know I did alright there’ because I think it is important to celebrate your achievements as well, he has the mindset of a winner and if it means he is not contented until his post-fight career, so be it.”

Whittaker is eventually expected to turn professional and Clayton, who coached him to the second of two national titles as a teenager, believes the experience in Japan will serve him well whatever the future holds.

He explained: “I remember when Benjamin lost in a junior championships when he was relatively inexperienced, against a lad who was much more experienced, he cried his eyes out.

“He was only 15 or 16 years old but he had the same mentality of not wanting to go through that again, saying: ‘I am going to work even harder and become better’. If this galvanises his work ethic to improve even more it is a great thing.”

Lopez is now a two-time Olympic champion having claimed the middleweight title at Rio 2016. The 28-year-old was able to gain a level of control on the contest after taking the first round on all five judges’ scorecards and though Whittaker came back strongly in the third, he had left himself too much to do.

“I thought it was a great contest, a real cagey fight between two highly-skilled athletes. There was no margin for error,” said Clayton.

“Arlen Lopez maybe just had the edge in experience and that paid dividends for him. But it is the final of the Olympics and you lose on a split-decision, so it was very close.

“That is the sport they are in. All of that work and maybe, had Benjamin landed two clean and solid jabs in either the first or second round it might have changed the dynamics.

“But you just have to take the positive, let go of the rest of rest and move onwards and upwards. That is what Benjamin will do.”

Whittaker is set to receive a hero’s welcome when he returns to the Black Country and Clayton continued: “He was interviewed straight after his contest and Benjamin is a person who lives in the moment, he was always going to react that way.

“It is the mindset of a winner. He wants to be the best, he wanted to be the best and that is why he dedicates himself as much as he does.

“The absolute blessing of his journey is that it has put him on a different stage.

“People will be interested to see him and how he gets on in boxing and in life.

“I think Benjamin has had a wonderful tournament and I am so pleased people have seen a glimpse of the man and the boxer he is.

“On this platform it is a wonderful thing to kick-start a professional career or wherever he wants to go.”