After 'one-hitter-quitter' debut finish Whittaker promises much more to come

Ben Whittaker knows how to make an entrance. On Saturday he had his first contest as a professional fighter. The bout only lasted four minutes and 21 seconds (including the one-minute break after the opening round) yet it was enough for the Olympic silver medallist to announce himself.

Against Greg O'Neill in Bournemouth, he put his showboating and his willingness to engage with both the crowd in the arena and his opponent in the ring on full display in the first three minutes.

Returning to his corner, trainer SugarHill Steward told him: "Okay, you've had your fun. He's very frustrated, I can see that and he's starting to gas out a bit now. So all you have to do is keep touching him with your jab. When you feel right put that right hand on him."

Whittaker followed that guidance precisely. Twenty seconds later he was up off his stool, out in the centre of the ring. His right shot down and left his opponent laid out on the canvas.

"That's all I did. I went out there and did it. That quick. It was beautiful. I listened to the game plan. That's what I like, it was simple instructions and simple instructions worked," Whittaker told Sky Sports.

"I call that the one-hitter-quitter," he laughed.

"It's something I've been working on in camp with Joby (Clayton) and then Sugar. It's just a simple one-two but it's just about timing then, instead of it being your typical straight one-two, I just turned it around at the end and it caught beautiful. As soon as it hit I felt it on my hand and then I thought that's it, he's not getting back up. That's it, that's all she wrote.

"With people watching and all the hype and stuff, [wondering] 'Can he punch, can he this and that?'. I thought it was the perfect way to start and hopefully I can