As 2024 drew to a close, Ben Whittaker is not ashamed to admit he was starting to lose his grip on reality.

The Olympic silver medalist’s reputation had taken a hit that October due to his role in the controversial first fight with Liam Cameron, who had labelled him 'Ben Quittaker' in the aftermath. It was a nickname that was starting to stick.

The pair had tumbled over the top rope of the ring in the centre of Kingdom Arena after five surprisingly competitive rounds in the outskirts of Riyadh. Whittaker had been expected to make reasonably straightforward work of Sheffield Cinderella Man Cameron but he looked on the verge of coming unstuck as their 10-rounder wore on.

Whittaker appeared to haul them both over the ropes and onto the floor as the fifth drew to a close and he was then unable to emerge for the sixth due to the injuries he sustained. Suddenly, the undefeated rising star of the light-heavyweight division needed a rebuild.

On the ground in Riyadh that night working for DAZN was Andy Lee, who instantly recognised a fighter in need of help and the Dublin-based trainer eventually decided to reach out to the 28-year-old.

“A lot of people were coming out of the woodwork,” Whittaker says ambiguously of that time. “They were saying ‘Ben’s this, Ben’s that’.

“And with someone like Andy, to get his time is a precious thing at the moment because everyone is trying to go there and train with him. But he actually messaged me.

“He said ‘alright Ben, I know you’re going through a lot right now, I would love you to come to Ireland, you’ve got the talent, the door’s open’. I thought I had to jump at the chance.”

Before then, the first two years of Whittaker’s professional career had been spent working with two different coaches. First it was Sugar Hill Steward, incidentally a close friend and former coach of Lee, and then his own godfather Joby Clayton, the man who introduced him to boxing in the first place. Neither had worked.

On Clayton specifically, he explained: “We still talk, he’s my godfather and I’ve been with him since when I started. He's the first person to give me a pair of gloves, I respect things like that but for me, boxing is a selfish sport and if the opportunity is there to get better you need to go there. He's taken me to a certain point, a great point, an Olympic medal but to get to the next level, brought someone who's been a pro, was a world champion and got a good stable.”

But it was not just the boxing that Whittaker was struggling to maximise. As one of the country’s most promising young fighters, who turned professional boasting that silver medal, he had been instantly thrust underneath the spotlight. His antics inside the ring and penchant for showboating had also marked him out as one to watch, whether you liked him or loathed him.

“I was in a position where everything was happening at once,” Whittaker explains. “Money, fame, there were lights and cameras. It was a bit too much to be honest.

“I used to be able to go to my Asda and get milk for my mum but if I go in there now I'm getting bombarded, I just thought ‘this is crazy’ and you get lost in it. That’s probably what happened in the first Cameron fight, I just went there [to Riyadh], I was shopping, I was going crazy, it brought me back to earth. Now I’ve gone from places like that to Dublin, where nobody knows me.”

Following their Instagram exchanges, Whittaker and Lee linked up officially in March and kicked off their first camp together ahead of his April rematch with Cameron. After struggling so badly in October, Whittaker dismantled Cameron inside two rounds.

“I love it because that’s switched me back on,” says Whittaker of the new set-up. “It showed in the second fight when I took it seriously what I can do.”

The second outing of their working relationship takes place this Saturday at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, where Whittaker tops the bill against Benjamin Gavazi in his first fight since signing promotional terms with Matchroom.

Whittaker had been with Boxxer since turning professional but his departure means he will not be boxing on the BBC. Instead, he believes he is ready to become a cornerstone of DAZN’s output both at home and overseas.

“I love fighting in England,” he says. “We’ve got the best fans here. I get a lot of stick but I love it.

“But I’ve got a good US fanbase too and, weirdly, some of my biggest followings are Japan and Brazil. Eddie [Hearn] can take me to those weird places you’d never get to go. It was an eye-opener because I can dabble in America and elsewhere. Fighting in the UK is nice but it would get a bit boring if you got the opportunity to go elsewhere.

“Luckily, my social media shows your ratings of where your followers are from. An old fighter Popo [Acelino Freitas], who won the WBO world title, posted me on his Instagram and it went crazy. I was just playing around, put a Vinicius Jr top on and now they think I’m Brazilian. I’m like ‘here we go’.”

Despite a decent record and superior experience, Gavazi (19-1, 13 KOs) starts as a significant underdog on Saturday night. The combination of Whittaker and Lee is widely expected to be a fruitful one but only because the 28-year-old ‘Surgeon’ has got his mind right after his toils in late 2024.

Cameron, for his part, says he will always have a place in his heart for Whittaker given how much their two-fight series earned him. For Whittaker, the impact of their rivalry was more profound - and there are certainly no hard feelings.

“After I won, I could have been nasty or posted things,” he says. “But we’ve had private talks on Instagram. I told him if he ever wants to come down and spar then he’s welcome.

“I’m not a nasty person and even though it was a hard time, it made me a better fighter. If it didn't happen there, it could've gone down the line and I could've got hurt even more. That little bump in the road made me realise boxing is serious and you can't mess around.”