Charismatic British light heavyweight Ben Whittaker could soon find himself competing in an IBF world title eliminator against Australia’s Conor Wallace, provided that Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn decide to move forward with the bout.
Wallace and Whittaker are currently ranked No. 2 and No. 3 respectively by the IBF, with the No. 1 position vacant. According to recent reports, both fighters have already been contacted by the IBF to gauge their willingness to face each other for the right to become the mandatory challenger to world champion Dmitrii Bivol.
Wallace’s promoter, Mick Francis, welcomed the opportunity:
“Conor has been waiting for this opportunity for a while. We all know how slow it moves at the top end. They [IBF] were going to order that fight a couple of weeks ago but they waited for Ben to have his fight [with Rivera] over in the US.
It’s a fight that Conor wants and a fight that I feel Conor has a chance to win. It’s 50/50 as far as I’m concerned but we need to bring that fight to Australia.”
Conor Wallace, who was born in Northern Ireland, owns a professional record of 17 wins and just one defeat, suffered in 2021, with 12 victories coming by knockout. He has never fought outside Australia and turned 30 on April 1.
Whittaker is coming off a dominant second-round stoppage victory over American Richard Rivera on June 27 in Brooklyn. The win improved his professional record to 12 victories, in addition to the technical draw in his first fight with Liam Cameron, which he emphatically avenged in the rematch.