{"id":692095,"date":"2026-07-15T00:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/692095\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T00:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:56:15","slug":"ben-whittaker-in-advanced-negotiations-for-world-title-eliminator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/692095\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Whittaker in advanced negotiations for world title eliminator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Whittaker is in advanced negotiations to face Aussie puncher Conor Wallace in an IBF final eliminator, talkSPORT.com understands. <\/p>\n

The IBF requested the availability of No.3-ranked Whittaker and No.2-rated Wallace last week<\/a>, and both camps are now nearing a deal.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Whittaker has stopped his last four opponents inside two roundsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

While Wallace’s manager, Mick Francis, pushed for the fight to take place in Australia, it appears that the contest is heading to Whittaker’s hometown of Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Sources close to the deal indicate that the Utilita Arena will host the light heavyweight showdown on October 3.<\/p>\n

DAZN<\/a> are set to broadcast the event, which will be promoted by Matchroom Boxing. <\/p>\n

Whittaker (12-0-1) has made quick work of his last four opponents since his anticlimactic technical draw with Liam Cameron in October 2024.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON BOXING <\/p>\n

‘The Surgeon’ blew away Richard Rivera inside two rounds<\/a> in his US debut last month, and was expected to face a domestic rival until the golden opportunity with Wallace came up. <\/p>\n

Wallace (17-1) suffered the sole defeat of his career via majority decision to Leti Leti for the Australian light heavyweight title in 2021.<\/p>\n

He would rebound to knock out the Samoan-born fighter in a rematch one year later and has won ten fights on the bounce since the setback. <\/p>\n

Whoever emerges victorious will fill the vacant No.1 IBF spot and punch their ticket for a mandatory shot at unified WBA, IBF and WBO<\/a> 175lbs world champion Dmitry Bivol<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The IBF is last in the sanctioning body rotation system for Bivol, as the Russian recently fulfilled his mandatory obligation by outpointing Michael Eifert in May.<\/p>\n

He has since been ordered to face WBO interim champion Callum Smith<\/a> and has been given 20 days to reach an agreement before a purse bid is ordered. <\/p>\n

\"Wallace<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Wallace is at a similar stage of his career to WhittakerCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Amidst these rapid developments, IBA president Umar Kremlev claims that Bivol’s handlers turned down a lucrative offer to stage a rubber match with Artur Beterbiev<\/a> in Russia. <\/p>\n

“Everyone is waiting for this fight,” Russian boxing mogul Kremlev told Ring Magazine.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know why Bivol and his team are not accepting the offer, but I will do my best to make this fight happen. <\/p>\n

“We’ve been having discussions with both teams for quite a while. <\/p>\n

“I can confirm that Beterbiev and his team are ready for the fight.<\/p>\n

“The offer we made to Bivol for the third fight was considerably bigger than the first two fights. <\/p>\n

“Specifically, Bivol was given two times a bigger offer than in previous fights. Beterbiev will fight for free just to make this fight happen.”<\/p>\n

Watch Boxing on DAZN<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

*If you click a link in this boxout, we will earn affiliate revenue<\/p>\n

Sign up to DAZN<\/a> to access the definitive subscription for boxing fans.<\/p>\n

Upgrade to DAZN Ultimate<\/a> from just \u00a324.99\/month, guaranteeing access to 185+ fights annually, a minimum of 12 pay-per-views at no extra cost, as well as every Lega Serie A match and other elite football access.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, DAZN Standard<\/a> is just \u00a315.99\/month, with the caveat you will have to pay for pay-per-view events.<\/p>\n

Click here to sign up<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Whittaker is in advanced negotiations to face Aussie puncher Conor Wallace in an IBF final eliminator, talkSPORT.com…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[83265,2560,6102,156882,9555,76197,15920,101,56,54,55,11555,15921,904],"class_list":["post-692095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-ben-whittaker","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-conor-wallace","tag-dmitry-bivol","tag-ibf","tag-next-fight","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-when","tag-where","tag-who"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}