Ben Whittaker defeats Conor Wallace by unanimous decision in a 12-round battle in Birmingham; Whittaker dominated the early going but Wallace came on strongly in the final three rounds and badly hurt the Olympic silver medallist; the bout was an eliminator for the IBF title Ben Whittaker was left clinging on as he got through a torrid final round to outpoint Conor Wallace. An Olympic silver medallist and unbeaten professional hope, Whittaker was looking to advance to world level in this IBF title eliminator against Wallace in Birmingham. Whittaker showed off his skills over the first half of the fight, dominating proceedings as he commanded the distance between them. He whipped hard shots into the Irishman, now based in Australia.
Wallace however withstood them but Whittaker, who sprinkled in some of his trademark showboating, was so comfortably ahead through nine rounds that he seemed to be in complete control. But that all suddenly changed. Wallace hurt him with a big shot in the 10th round. He punished Whittaker for holding his hands low, keeping that pressure on the Olympic star.
Wallace badly shook up Whittaker in the 12th and last round. He had Whittaker reeling and lunging in to clinch and grab Wallace. That saw Whittaker slipping and stumbling to the canvas, falling three times but the referee deemed none of them to be a knockdown. Whittaker ultimately won unanimously, taking it 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 on the cards.
Bilal Fawaz retained the British and Commonwealth super-welterweight titles with an impressive knockout finish as he took out Eithan James in their eighth round.
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