Ben Whittaker survives final-round drama to beat Conor Wallace in IBF title eliminator

Ben Whittaker survived a dramatic final-round rally from Conor Wallace to secure a unanimous-decision victory in their IBF light heavyweight final eliminator in Birmingham.

Whittaker appeared to be cruising towards victory at the Utilita Arena before Wallace turned the fight on its head in the closing rounds, with the hometown favourite hitting the canvas three times in a chaotic twelfth, although none were officially ruled knockdowns.

The judges ultimately scored the contest 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 in Whittaker's favour.

The victory capped off a dramatic night of boxing on Matchroom Boxing’s card at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena.

‘The Surgeon’, Ben Whittaker, walked out to a mash-up of The Undertaker's iconic theme and Jaden's ‘Icon’ in his home city of Birmingham, moments before the bell chimed to start his IBF light heavyweight final eliminator against Conor Wallace.

With a mandatory position for the IBF world title on the line, Whittaker started in his usual fashion, taking the front foot with every intention of dictating the early exchanges.

As the first round progressed, Whittaker looked increasingly composed. It wasn't until the second that the real Whittaker began to show through, teeing off on Wallace with some added flair and making himself awkward to hit.

Throughout this, Wallace remained calm and withstood the storm that Whittaker was putting him through.

Wallace ate plenty of nasty shots from his opponent towards the latter stages of the third round, only to show Whittaker that he wasn't fazed, sticking his tongue out and laughing in the face of the Brummie, egging him on.

The fourth round saw Whittaker in his groove, showing off his arrogant, cocky and charismatic side, reacting to the commentary team and slowly walking away from the adversity being thrown his way by Wallace.

With the home-city hero up on the scorecards, Wallace needed something to work in his favour if he fancied a shot at the IBF strap. In his way, ‘The Surgeon’ was doing exactly what his nickname suggests, being pinpoint accurate with his shots in the fifth round.

Whittaker nailed Wallace with a hook with less than 20 seconds left in the fifth, sending him across the ring and onto the ropes, but the bell saved him from further punishment.

Almost certainly behind on the judges' scorecards, Wallace needed to throw caution to the wind if he wanted a way back into the fight, but he was struggling to do anything different.

Whittaker began to play with his food in the eighth round, with little to no challenge coming his way as Wallace continued to struggle to make his offence count.

However, Wallace finally let his hands go in the tenth, forcing Whittaker to coast for the first time in the contest. The Brummie was no longer in complete control, with a straight right hand wobbling him before a hook during a clinch rocked him again.

It may have been too late, but Wallace had finally found a way to hurt Whittaker.

Whittaker was forced to fight fire with fire in the eleventh as Wallace's offence continued to come forward, with a sense of panic perhaps beginning to creep into the home fighter's performance.

Before the start of the twelfth, Wallace hyped up the Birmingham crowd and signalled that he was going for broke, and he did exactly that.

The final round descended into carnage, with Whittaker being sent down three times, although none were officially scored as knockdowns by the referee.

After what felt like the longest couple of minutes of Whittaker's life, the final bell finally sounded, bringing a chaotic end to the contest.

Despite Wallace's late rally, Whittaker had done enough in the opening rounds to secure the victory, with the judges scoring the contest 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 in favour of the Brummie.

On the biggest stage of his career to date, Merseyside's Odel Kamara made his much-anticipated professional debut in front of a packed, sold-out Utilita Arena in Birmingham against Greek boxer Thodoris Ritzakis.

Kamara looked completely comfortable with the occasion, immediately applying pressure and forcing Ritzakis onto the back foot in the opening exchanges.

With just over 40 seconds remaining in the round, Kamara stepped up the pressure, hunting down his opponent before dropping Ritzakis with a heavy shot.

The Greek boxer managed to beat the eight-count and see out the remainder of the round, but the damage was already clear.

As the bell sounded to end the opening three minutes, Ritzakis' face told the story, showing the punishment inflicted by Kamara in a blistering start to his professional career.

Kamara showed not just an impressive offence but also great defensive work in the second, evading a number of shots from Ritzakis as the fight became a more measured affair.

Unlike the chaotic opening round, the second was a much more controlled display from the debutant, who looked unfazed by the occasion.

With the third round once again becoming one-way traffic in Kamara's favour, the referee stepped in towards the end of the round following a clean uppercut that found its way through Ritzakis' guard, bringing an end to the contest and handing Kamara a stoppage victory on his professional debut.

Leicester's Sean Bruce put his British and Commonwealth flyweight titles on the line against Hamza Uddin in one of the featured fights of the evening.

The opening round was competitive, with both men trading shots from their differing stances. Uddin appeared to have the edge in the closing minute, pressing forward while Bruce maintained his shape without taking too much damage.

A slight confrontation between the pair at the end of the opening round saw tensions rise, with Uddin seemingly instigating the exchange.

Bruce struggled to find his rhythm as the fight progressed, with Uddin enjoying plenty of success in the exchanges through to the fifth round.

Uddin then dropped the champion twice in the fifth, although on both occasions Bruce quickly returned to his feet and looked eager to fire back.

The second knockdown was particularly nasty, with Uddin catching Bruce clean on the chin while both of the champion's knees were on the canvas. The referee allowed the fight to continue, with Bruce choosing to carry on defending his gold.

Going into the seventh round, it was all Uddin. He maintained the same pace he had started with, isolating Bruce, who was struggling to deal with the 23-year-old challenger.

Uddin finally got his reward in the eighth round, dropping Bruce with a right hook with less than 25 seconds remaining. The referee called an end to the contest, with Uddin crowned the new British and Commonwealth flyweight champion.

Bilal Fawaz put his British and Commonwealth super welterweight titles on the line against Eithan James in the second bout on the main card.

Fawaz controlled the opening round, dictating the pace and forcing James off the centre line as he looked to establish his authority.

It was more of the same in the second, with Fawaz continuing to control the action and dictate where the fight was taking place.

James found himself in trouble midway through the third, with Fawaz unloading to both the body and head against the ropes, leaving the referee closely watching the action.

Fawaz came out like a man possessed at the start of the fourth, hunting down James, who looked a level below the reigning champion.

James tried everything to disrupt Fawaz's rhythm, regularly switching stances, particularly in the fifth. But Fawaz remained rather unbothered, continuing to pile on the pressure, pinning James in the corner and landing unanswered shots in the sixth before ending the round with some showboating.

A low blow from James in the seventh briefly stunted the champion, with the referee seemingly more frustrated with Fawaz for making the most of it than with James for the foul itself.

The fight came to an end in the eighth. Fawaz dropped James for the first time, with the challenger beating the count and getting back to his feet.

However, it would not last long, as a clean right hook sent James down for a second time, forcing the referee to wave off the contest and confirming Fawaz's successful defence of his belts.

Ibraheem Sulaimaan successfully defended his English super featherweight title against Sonny Hardy, coming through a competitive 10 rounds to secure a unanimous-decision victory.

Hardy enjoyed success throughout the contest and Sulaimaan was deducted a point for holding in the seventh, but the champion responded strongly in the later rounds to retain his title with scores of 97-93, 97-93 and 96-93, improving his professional record to 12-0.

Aaron Bowen was also crowned the new Midlands Area super middleweight champion after defeating Klinton Baptiste over 10 rounds. Baptiste started well, using his superior reach to keep Bowen at bay, before the challenger grew into the fight and took control during the second half of the contest.

On the preliminary card, unbeaten teenager Adam Maca moved to 7-0 with a second-round stoppage victory over Rogger Rivera, while Harley Burrows improved to 3-0 after stopping Matias Ezequiel Herrera in the second round.

Paige Murney opened the card with victory over Linzi Buczynskyj, overcoming a second-round point deduction to extend her unbeaten professional record to 5-0.