Whittaker survives last three rounds, defeats Wallace

Ben Whittaker (13-0-1, 9 KOs) was dominating for nine rounds against Conor Wallace (17-2, 12 KOs) in Birmingham on Saturday night.

But a big left from Wallace in Round 10 changed the momentum. Whittaker looked shaky in closing stages of the fight, but kept swinging and held on. He won by unanimous decision. Judges scored the IBF light-heavyweight eliminator fight 117:111, 116:112 and 115:113 for Whittaker.

“I was dominating every round. It got to a point where it was too easy if I’m honest, switched off him. Just ‘cause he won one round, two rounds max, you know, people think it’s an amazing performance from him. But at the end of the day, I won, probably two rounds down in my opinion but on to the next. If he wants to get smoked again, he can do. But there’s still a lot to learn, we’re still with my coach, Andy. He’s saying some amazing things and I wavered off sometimes”, Whittaker said after the fight.

“I was trying to impress the crowd probably a bit too much but it’s all learning, 12 rounds under my belt. I’ve been cleaning them out a bit early now, and even in there I hurt him a lot, wobbled him a lot, and fair play to him, he kept coming back.”