Ben Whittaker survived a late onslaught from Conor Wallace as he clung on for a unanimous decision win, and now Wallace has assessed the power of ‘Benzo’, whilst reflecting on the contest.
Whittaker started strong and looked to be in control, cruising toward a comfortable win and seeking to close the show to hand the Australia-based Wallace a first defeat inside of the distance.
Fears that Whittaker is not a ’12-round fighter’ looked to be confirmed later on in the bout, as Wallace executed his game plan well and piled on the pressure in the final three rounds in an attempt to pull off a shock upset.
In the closing stages, Whittaker was lucky to avoid a point deduction for excessive holding – but escaped without even a warning – as he fought purely on survival instincts to make it to the final bell.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, Wallace admitted that he was not troubled by the punch power of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist, but conceded that he had difficulties with the speed of the Brit early on as he called for the rematch to be made.
“To be honest with you, it is definitely not the hardest that I have ever been hit. I took his shots pretty comfortably and I think I showed that – I was having a bit of fun in there – but it is more so the sharpness, if you know what I am trying to say.
[The issue is] the speed at which the punches come at you, obviously when someone is fresh and fast [it is tricky], that is why he was dominant in the early rounds.
Definitely [got my heart set on the rematch]. I’ve shown in my career, when I had my first loss I wanted to get that back and I won by knockout in the rematch, I know what I can do and I have great confidence in myself”
Soon after Whittaker’s points win was announced, he, promoter Eddie Hearn and trainer Andy Lee all shared their interest in running it back with Wallace – hoping for a more conclusive triumph in a potential second encounter.
