The issue between British contenders Ben Whittaker (8-0-1, 5 KO’s) and Liam Cameron (23-6-1, 10 KO’s) seems to have abated as the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) revealed the fight to be held over 10 rounds. The upcoming light-heavyweight (175 lbs) bout is set to be held later this week on Sunday, April 20, at the bp pulse LIVE arena in Birmingham, and will be promoted by Boxxer.
Cameron had previously unveiled a contract had been signed for 12 rounds, which prompted Whittaker’s team to attempt to change the contract to 10 rounds, but apparently the BBBofC has created a resolution by issuing it as 10 rounds.
The board’s actions follow a tenuous couple of weeks where the contract dispute threatened to cancel the fight altogether due to Team Whittaker’s attempts to change the agreement.
In an interview with BoxingScene, BBBofC head Robert Smith confirmed the bout would be held over 10 rounds:
“As things stand it’s 10 rounds. But I haven’t seen any contracts.” Smith told BoxingScene.
Unclear is whether the bout has been made 10 rounds due to BBBofC regulations. As a rule of thumb, fights fought for the BBBofC’s “British” titles or final eliminators are prominently scheduled as 12-round bouts. However, for fights involving the lower-tier “English” titles or belts concerning a region, referred to as “area” titles, 10 rounds are the standard.
Oddly enough, the particulars of a bout agreement held within the BBBofC’s jurisdiction are required to be sent to the governing body who must approve it, though Robert Smith admitted to not having seen either of the fighters’ contracts.
This creates only more confusion regarding the entire situation, as according to Cameron his own contract, and by extension Whittaker’s, signaled their fight was scheduled for 12 rounds. This might mean the BBBofC itself does not seem to have an adequate grasp of the situation given Smith’s admittance to not having seen either contract.
According to Cameron himself, he and his management team had ceded to Team Whittaker’s demands of changing the bout to 10 rounds but no contracts were apparently sent to him to confirm this notion:
“Boxxer have my terms to accept to change the fight to 10 rounds but they are refusing to send me a contract to [verify] the deal and are trying to suggest they can change the rounds without the contract,” Cameron posted yesterday on social media.
“Going into a fight week not knowing how many rounds I’m fighting is a joke for me and for my opponent. As I post this, it’s still a 12-round fight.“
With Boxxer, Whittaker’s promoter, not new to underhanded tactics, there might be some sort of leeway given to the promotion by the BBBofC to bypass the need for official contract adjustments. As Cameron stated, the change in the rounds would be reflected through what the contracts stated but the details of this arrangement seems to have been overlooked by the BBBofC whose chairman, Robert Smith, has openly stated not to have seen either contract.
According to Ben Shalom, chairman of Boxxer, the BBBofC has agreed to a 10-round fight between the two fighters and sent communications to both parties:
“10 [rounds have been] confirmed with the [BBBofC] and communicated to all parties.” Shalom reportedly told BoxingScene in a text message.
Despite the dispute being small given the nature of it, it does appear to highlight the continuing decay in the sport of boxing where the head of a governing body seems unaware of the exact details of a bout contract his own organization approved, or ignored altogether.
Notably, the BBBofC has yet to send out a public confirmation of the ongoing resolution between Team Whittaker and Cameron, further steeping the situation in mystery as it’s unclear how and why the governing body settled on 10 rounds, and whether the contracts signed between the two teams were taken into account.
