Ben Whittaker and Conor Wallace will be ordered to collide in an IBF light heavyweight eliminator, according to Wallace’s promoter, Mick Francis.
The No. 3-ranked Whittaker, 12-0-1 (9 KOs), trounced Richard Rivera in two rounds last month and is currently scheduled to fight on October 3 in a showcase in Birmingham, England, which is in close proximity to his West Bromwich roots. Domestic rivals Anthony Yarde and Craig Richards had been rumored as potential opponents for the Englishman who won silver at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Australia’s Wallace, meanwhile, is ranked second by the IBF at 175lbs and improved his record to 17-1 (12 KOs) in April when he knocked out the experienced but fading Walter Gabriel Sequeira in six rounds.
There is no guarantee that the Matchroom-promoted Whittaker will accept the assignment, however. The IBF champion, Dmitry Bivol, also holds the WBA and WBO belts and recently chalked off his mandatory obligation with the IBF when he beat Michael Eifert in May. It has been reported that his next fight, once he’s recovered from injury, will be against Callum Smith.
Francis is confident, however.
“Conor has been waiting for this opportunity for a while,” he said. “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.”