Liam Cameron backing former rival Ben Whittaker to become world champion ahead of Fabio Wardley-Daniel Dubois return

Liam Cameron wants his former foe Ben Whittaker to go ‘all the way’ and become world champion.

Cameron, who fights Bradley Rea on the undercard of Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois in two weeks, saw his career explode through a two-fight rivalry with fellow Briton Whittaker that ended last year.

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The 35-year-old believes he won his first light heavyweight clash against Whittaker in Saudi Arabia, which controversially ended when the pair tumbled over the ropes in round six.

Cameron then got his hands on Whittaker in a rematch last April, but was knocked out by ‘The Surgeon’ in the second round.

Having previously slammed Whittaker for his ‘not nice’ attitude in the build-up to fight week, Cameron explained ahead of his return to the ring why he’s now supporting his former rival to the top.

Why Cameron wants Whittaker to reach the top

“I’m so happy for Ben,” an honest Cameron, 24-7-1 in his 17-year professional journey, told talkSPORT.com.

“I want him to go all the way. I want him to be a world champion. I hope he does.

“It will look better for me. I support him. I gave him a little message [after his win over Braian Suarez last week].

“I don’t bum-lick anyone, but because I’ve shared a good experience with him, I just said, ‘Well done, amazing.'”

Cameron scored his first win since February 2024 last time out, coming from behind to claim a unanimous decision over Troy Jones.

His next opponent, Rea, tasted just his second career defeat on the same card in Manchester, dropping Lyndon Arthur in the second round before falling to a points defeat.

Cameron, now the WBA Inter-Continental champion at 175lbs, learned a lot of lessons from his two meetings with Whittaker.

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He has kept his inner circle small ahead of his next outing, which he says he ‘100 per cent’ needs to win.

Cameron on ‘snake pit’ of boxing after Whittaker defeat

“I’ll be honest, boxing’s a pure snake pit,” the Sheffield man added, speaking on his mindset post-Whittaker.

“I had people coming up to me, the Whittaker fights, saying, ‘You’re going to smash him, do this, he’s been doing this in camp, he’s doing this.’

“The same people that were saying that to me, were hugging him and making out they were his best mates when they saw him.

“I was watching it and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this is not what I want to be in, this is pure snake.’

“I just got fed up. I don’t really do interviews any more because of that.

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“When I boxed [Whittaker] in Saudi, I used to beg people for interviews, and when I got that draw, I had a queue of 50 people lining up to do an interview.

“Then when you lose, you get one person in the changing room – so that’s a bit of a bad sign where we are in boxing.”

Cameron is expecting Rea to come out swinging for a war when the pair come to blows at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena.

Cameron opens up on sobriety

Ahead of his win over Jones, ‘Cannonball’ said he was struggling with neck and back pain, something he’s been glad to get rid of before getting into the ring again.

“I couldn’t move my head hours before the fight,” Cameron said.

“I couldn’t put no power in my punches, and it showed. I didn’t throw one big power shot, what I’ve got in me, in my locker.

“I just had to scrape it. That’s basically what I had to do, really, seriously.”

But now, he has never felt better at this stage of his career.

Cameron is now over three-and-a-half years sober, having been banned from boxing in 2018 for four years due to a positive test for cocaine.

“I was a drug addict and an alcoholic,” he concluded, speaking on his decision to get clean.

“I had a really bad turn in hospital with overdoses. It was either get sober or get buried in a coffin kind of thing.

“So I picked to get sober.”

Cameron fights Rea on Saturday, May 9, and you can watch the full card live on DAZN.

Boxing schedule

For all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out talkSPORT.com’s  boxing schedule.