Ben Whittaker is facing criticism from Michael Conlan after calling for a rematch with Conor Wallace following his unanimous decision victory in their IBF light-heavyweight eliminator on Saturday night in Birmingham. The Olympic silver medallist beat Wallace, but Conlan questioned why Whittaker would not instead target Dmitry Bivol next.
Victory and a difficult finish
Whittaker, 29, was winning the fight convincingly but had to hold on in the final few minutes after taking several punches flush in the latter rounds of his first 12-round fight. The judges scored the bout 117-111, 116-112, 115-113 in his favour, though a run of four consecutive knockout victories has now ended.
Whittaker insisted he was not hurt and that his sluggish finish was because the fight was 'too easy', but Wallace appeared to rock him in the 10th before launching an onslaught in the final three minutes that Whittaker managed to survive. The Wolverhampton fighter has now won five straight bouts since his controversial draw with Liam Cameron two years ago.
Post-fight comments questioned
Speaking to DAZN after the fight, Whittaker said: "I want to thank Wallace, great fight. I think we should do it again, and I'll beat him down even better. If I'm honest, it was too easy; I took my eye off the ball. He caught me with a good shot; that's boxing. But what did I do? Dug it out and won, it's a 12-round fight at the top level, and I loved it."
Conlan, a former Olympic medallist, responded: "I do question this, you have won a world title eliminator and call for a rematch instead of wanting the biggest fight next? As a fighter, you don't do that, but as a manager, it's probably the safe bet. I do think Ben's unbelievably talented, but doesn't seem to have that dog in him."
Next steps and Bivol situation
Whittaker continues to face questions about his resilience after being perceived as having quit during the first fight with Cameron, when he withdrew citing injury after both boxers fell out of the ring. That bout was on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol's defeat to Arthur Beterbiev, who later became the undisputed light heavyweight champion.
The WBC belt has since been relinquished. Bivol won a mandatory defence ordered by the IBF against Michael Eifert in May and has since had elbow surgery this summer. Bivol has agreed to fight their mandatory challenger, Callum Smith, according to the WBO, meaning Whittaker is likely to fight at least once more in the New Year before he can consider challenging the winner in 2027.
His promoter, Eddie Hearn, acknowledged a rematch with Wallace could be on the cards, saying: "We know Ben is in the position to fight the winner of Bivol-Smith, but it's likely that won't be until next summer, so he needs to fight in the interim."
