He was in serious trouble, but in the end Ben Whittaker managed to retain the WBC Silver light heavyweight title. In the main event of last night’s card at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, “The Surgeon” outpointed Irish-Australian Conor Wallace, narrowly surviving a tumultuous final stretch. The judges’ scores, all in favour of the hometown favourite, were 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113.
Very little of substance happened in the opening round, which turned out to be the classic feeling-out period: the two fighters took turns occupying the centre of the ring and relied almost exclusively on their jabs and footwork, looking to identify weaknesses in their opponent’s technical setup that they could exploit later on.
From the second round onwards, Whittaker had already begun bringing out the heavy artillery, displaying a significant advantage in terms of speed that allowed him to land the first telling power shots without Wallace being able to respond effectively.
Things went even worse for the Australian in the third round, when he absorbed two nasty hooks while coming out of a clinch, followed shortly before the bell by a vicious left hook to the temple. Wallace wobbled for a moment but quickly recovered, even sticking his tongue out at his opponent before returning to his corner for the one-minute break.
Confident of his superiority, the hometown fighter, as usual, resorted to his extensive repertoire of provocative antics aimed at entertaining the crowd and unsettling his opponent psychologically, with Wallace appearing completely devoid of solutions during the first half of the fight.
Wallace showed some signs of life during the fifth round, but towards the end of it a fully loaded right hook sent him crashing into the ropes, once again extinguishing his momentum and prompting him to return to an extremely cautious and economical approach over the following minutes.
The extreme passivity of the southpaw, allowed Whittaker to dictate the pace as he pleased, freely choosing when to attack and when to catch his breath, and in doing so continuing to build his lead on the scorecards.
Wallace’s tactical approach appeared so resigned that it seemed he was prepared to settle for an honourable decision loss. But a left hand landed flush on the chin in the ninth round suddenly reignited the Australian’s fighting instinct, and for the first time he saw a path that could lead him to victory.
In the following round, that same weapon—the straight left to the face—did tangible damage, sending Whittaker into a panic and forcing him to clinch desperately to avoid being dropped. Wallace then made a serious mistake by throwing a series of punches to the back of Whittaker’s head, prompting the referee to halt the action at a crucial moment and allowing the Englishman to recover his composure.
The Surgeon poured all his remaining energy into the eleventh round, throwing a high volume of punches to nip his opponent’s dangerous attacks in the bud, as Wallace was now determined to go all in. The former Olympic silver medallist, however, ran out of gas, and over the final three minutes he once again found himself on the verge of collapse.
Wallace’s punches were now cutting through Whittaker like a hot knife through butter, and Whittaker repeatedly dove onto his opponent, grabbing hold of him to avoid hitting the canvas. Referee Kieran McCann gave the Matchroom fighter a considerable helping hand, declining to count him when he went down while trying to escape the storm and never even issuing him a verbal warning for his obsessive use of the clinch. In the end, the fight concluded without the dramatic twist that had seemed increasingly likely, and the fans at the Utilita Arena were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Whittaker deserved the victory, having built too large a lead over the course of the fight for his opponent to make up on the scorecards. My own scorecard read 116-111 for the Englishman, with the final round awarded to Wallace 10-8 in view of the amount of punishment suffered by the pre-fight favourite.
The winner’s trainer, former world champion Andy Lee, stated that his fighter had suffered from a COVID infection one week before the bout and that this had weakened him, contributing to the dramatic decline we witnessed in the final rounds. Lee also said he would be in favour of a rematch.
Regardless of any external factors that may have influenced his performance, The Surgeon, in my view, exposed some clear and worrying vulnerabilities. The Englishman undoubtedly possesses significant natural gifts, first and foremost exceptional hand speed, but he relies too heavily on his reflexes and does not have a sturdy enough chin to remain unscathed when those reflexes fail him.
Personally, I have never been particularly bothered by flamboyant fighters who try to entertain with antics and audacious provocations. In Ben Whittaker’s case, however, I find such behaviour counterproductive. The Surgeon is not tough enough to afford a style like that of Naseem Hamed, who, despite taking enormous risks and even getting dropped at times, would get back to his feet sharper and more determined than before.
I believe the Englishman would be better off permanently putting away all the trappings and mannerisms of the flashy style he has tried to cultivate over the years, becoming more “boring” and ordinary while keeping both his guard and his concentration high at all times. By doing so, he could maximise his undeniable strengths and conceal his weaknesses. Otherwise, his dream of emulating the greats of the past will very soon come crashing down in a brutal and traumatic awakening.