A three-time world title challenger could be the perfect test to see where the 29-year-old belongs.

Whittaker told The Ring’s Louis Hart that he’d be open to facing Anthony Yarde, and that fight could mark a changing of the guard at 175 pounds.

“I think that's a very good name,” he said. “I got a lot of respect for him. He's done good things, but I think I'd beat him. He'd be a good fight — young puppy versus the older pup would be good.

Yarde (27-4, 24 KOs) has fallen short in three previous world title attempts.

He gave Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev everything he could before being stopped in the later rounds. Yarde led on two judges' scorecards against the latter before an eighth-round defeat in January 2023, while hurting Kovalev in the middle rounds before succumbing to an 11th-round stoppage in their August 2019 meeting.

He struggled far more in his last shot against David Benavidez, who scored a seventh-round finish to record his first knockout at light heavyweight on November 22. Yarde, 34, is The Ring's No. 4-rated player at 175 pounds.

Whittaker (11-0-1, 8 KOs), who is ranked inside the top three by the IBF and WBC, has looked the part of a prospect ready for much stiffer opposition in his last two fights. A 2020 Olympic silver medalist, the Brit has notched consecutive first-round knockouts and hasn't gone past round two in any of his last three appearances.

The Matchroom-backed talent will make his U.S. debut against Richard Rivera (27-2, 20 KOs) over 10 rounds on the Xander Zayas-Jaron Ennis bill come June 27 at Barclays Center in New York on DAZN PPV and as part of the DAZN Ultimate plan. The most notable bout for Rivera, 35, was a split-decision defeat to Badou Jack in a 10-round cruiserweight bout in 2022. He’s won six of his seven fights since then.

Yarde is the caliber of opponent who will reveal whether Whittaker is ready for the upper echelon. The growing demand for him to face this significant step up in competition clearly indicates he's ready to be challenged.

“It's a compliment to me,” Whittaker said.

“That's something to say, ‘Oh, you should fight this person.’ It shows that I’m good enough to beat that person. That's how I see it. I've done step-ups already, but people kind of overlook them. My last [opponent was] in a life and death with Lyndon [Arthur] for the IBO world title. This guy I'm fighting now lost on a split against Badou Jack.

“I'm not fighting no idiots right now. They're OK, but I suppose when I go out there and perform the way I do, I make them look ordinary.”