Wolverhampton’s Ben Whittaker (27) sustained an injury after him and his opponent went over the top rope in his contest against Liam Cameron (33) on the undercard of the Beterbiev v Bivol show at the Kingdom Arena Riyadh (12.10.24). The contest was called off at the end of the fifth round with Cameron on top in the fight but after both fighters went over the top rope Whittaker could not continue due to injuring his foot. The contest was for Whittaker’s IBF international light heavyweight belt and the vacant WBO global light heavyweight title and was scheduled for ten rounds. Whittaker weighed in twelve stone seven with Cameron coming in twelve stone six with Victor Loughlin reffing.
Whittaker started the first round well, taking the centre of the ring, and shooting out a sharp, fast jab with some nice combinations coming all off the jab. Cameron covered up well and landed some nice shots of his own with Whittaker winning the round. Whittaker continued to use his jab well in the second round with Cameron keeping his hands up and started to land good shots of his own asking questions of the Olympic Silver medallists, close found with Whittaker just edging it.
Whittaker started the third round well landing some nice fast combinations and was moving well, Cameron continued to press and landed some big shots dragging Whittaker into a scrap with Cameron just edging it for me.
Not one bit of showboating in this fight by Whittaker as Cameron continued roughing up the Wolverhampton hot prospect in the fourth with big scrappy combinations with Whittaker looking flustered and unable to cope with Cameron’s style. Cameron started using his jab at the start of the fifth and landed some nice backhands, Whittaker’s gum shield came out and when it was put back in Cameron continued to bash Whittaker up as the fight started to swing in Cameron’s favour. Whittaker was warned by ref Victor Loughlin for a low blow in a dominant round for Cameron, with just a few seconds left in the fifth both fighters came together with both fighters going over the top rope.
The fight was then stopped by the ref as Whittaker could not continue as he had hurt his foot. The contest went to the judge’s scorecards with Steve Grey scoring it 58 – 57 Whittaker, Mark Bates had it 58 to 58 and Kieran McCann had it 58 to 57 Cameron, I had it 58 to 57 Cameron. The fight ended in a split draw.
Dexter’s Thoughts
A massive wake-up call for Whittaker and in my opinion he was lucky to get a draw. When both fighters went over the top rope Cameron was winning the fight and I think Whittaker was looking for a way out as he just could not cope with Cameron’s style. Whittaker didn’t showcase any of his showboating tricks and I think that might of been his problem, if you at a flashy fighter that’s how you should fight, I think Whittaker tried to prove to people he could box without the showboating and it nearly cost him his unbeaten record. Hopefully, Whittaker learns from this, and in his next fight, he Showcases the skills he has.
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