Their 10-round bout will be televised live on DAZN Ultimate/DAZN PPV on the undercard of the main event between undefeated fighters Jaron Ennis and Xander Zayas for Zayas’ WBO super welterweight belt.

The 35-year-old orthodox boxer from Hartford, Connecticut, was in training camp for the last two months, predominantly in his home state, with trainers Eric Crespo and Hector Rosario.

“Training camp was awesome, and when I mean awesome, it sucked,” Rivera said. “We put in a lot of road work, swimming, sparring with local prospects and [two-division world champion] Demetrius Andrade, and everything we deemed necessary for this fight.”

Whittaker scored a first-round knockout over Brian Nahuel Suarez in April in his last outing. The 29-year-old orthodox boxer from West Bromwich, England, will make his first defense of the WBC Silver light heavyweight belt on Saturday, which he won when he knocked out Benjamin Gavazi in the first round in November 2025. Whittaker, who is ranked second by the WBC, third by the IBF, and 13th by the WBO, will be fighting professionally for the first time in the United States, as he has primarily fought in his home country.

Even though this will be Rivera’s first bout in seventeen months (his last bout was a second-round knockout over Roger Guerrero in January 2025), and the first time in his 10-year professional career that he has not fought at least twice in a calendar year (in 2025), he is not expecting any ring rust against Whittaker.

“I have been patiently waiting for this opportunity. A lot of people think this was a year and some change layoff, where I was sitting on my ass, but it could not be any further from the truth,” said Rivera, who has won two in a row and six out of his last seven bouts. “For the last year and a half, I have been doing road work, training in the gym, and working very hard on my dedication, passion, career, and craft.”

The 2021 Olympic silver medalist is heavily favored to defeat Rivera, according to multiple betting sites. Some sites have Whittaker favored to beat Rivera by -1300 (which means to win $100 on Whittaker, you need to bet $1,300).

“The odds makers clearly do not know me or what I bring to the table, or my work ethic. Those odds are crazy,” Rivera said. “My true fans are betting on me, and they will make some money.”

Whittaker’s promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, is so confident of Whittaker beating Rivera that he is already looking past this fight and planning for Whittaker to have two or three more bouts before fighting for a world title in early 2027.

This is not the first time that Rivera has been heavily favored to lose a fight. When he moved up to crusierweight and fought three-division titleholder Badou Jack in August 2022 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, few people gave him a chance to win. Yet, Rivera dominated the first half of the bout and lost a heavily disputed, controversial ten-round split decision, which many boxing fans believed he had won. In addition, the eighth round lasted four minutes instead of the standard three minutes due to a timekeeper’s error. During this extended time, Jack landed hard shots on Rivera, which swung the momentum to Jack for the last two rounds.

“I do not think the Jack fight was close. I dog walked him. I did not have a scratch on my face when the bout ended. I played with him,” Rivera said. “He never gave me a rematch. He was scared. It was disrespectful. I dealt with a lot of things leading up to the fight, during the fight, and the decision did not go my way, which should have gotten me the rematch, but it did not happen.”

Rivera and his promoter, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing, with whom he has been since 2019, have tried unsuccessfully to land a significant fight since the Jack bout, until now. Most boxers do not want to fight Rivera because he is viewed as a high-risk, low-reward fighter. Therefore, Rivera fought in the light heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions and traveled to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, often in the boxers’ home country, for fights.

His other loss is to undefeated prospect Luis Antonio Tejeda in Tejeda’s home country of the Dominican Republic, in March 2024. Rivera dominated the bout, however, he found himself on the wrong side of another controversial (eight round majority-decision) loss.

“That fight was rigged. They switched it from a 10-round fight to an 8-round fight because they thought he had a better chance to win if there were fewer rounds,” said Rivera, who also could not obtain a rematch with Tejada. “It was a shit show. It was a real scheme. I was set up. It was ugly and a disgrace to boxing. I have never truly lost a professional boxing fight.”

Despite waiting four years for another significant bout, Rivera has a unique opportunity to propel his career to new highs with an upset victory over Whittaker and set himself up for a significant bout later this year.

“It is bittersweet for me to be getting this significant fight this late in my career when I should have gotten these types of fights beforehand,” Rivera said. “I am an entertainer and performer. I want to be on this type of stage to show the world what I am capable of. I will make the most of this opportunity come Saturday.”