There is still time to resolve the ongoing rounds dispute ahead of Ben Whittaker’s rematch with Liam Cameron, says the British Boxing Board of Control.
Whittaker will fight Cameron in a highly anticipated light-heavyweight rematch on Sunday April 20, live on Sky Sports.
They first met in October when Olympic silver medallist Whittaker was unable to continue, due to injury, after both fighters fell over the top rope and out of the ring in the fifth round.
A technical decision then saw the bout finish as a draw.
That controversial ending however prompted suggestions from Cameron that Whittaker ‘quit’, fuelling a fiery build-up ahead of Sunday’s clash at the bp pulse LIVE arena in Birmingham.
Days away from the rematch, the rival camps are locked in a dispute over whether the bout will be contested over 10 or 12 rounds.
But the British Boxing Board of Control has said there is still time to resolve this issue before Sunday’s fight.
Robert Smith, the general secretary of the BBBoC, told Sky Sports: “It is a contract issue.
“There should be no need [for the Board] to intervene. Still time to resolve, which I’m sure it will be.”
‘Judgement day is April 20’
Whittaker and Cameron are due to face each other at a press conference on Friday before Sunday’s contest. Their war of words has been a feature of their pre-fight engagements.
“It got hard in there and when it gets hard, you want a way out,” Cameron previously said of Whittaker. “When you’re in pain and the fight’s not going your way, he wanted out of there.
“He wanted no part [of it].”
Whittaker is a flashy fighter when he boxes, renowned for his showboating. But Cameron claimed he had been chastened by their first fight.
“He’s changed a bit. He wasn’t the same person just then [on the Gloves Are Off]. Quite humbled, nice guy. Come in with a different approach. I like that,” Cameron told Sky Sports News.
“I was there to get beat. He was there to show what he was made of… I put a stop to it.”
Whittaker responded: “If he wants to go with that [quitting accusation] it’s great, more fuel to the fire.”
He is though determined to settle the score. “It was like a scene out of WWE,” Whittaker told Sky Sports News. “It’s boxing. These things are not written and we get to run it back.
“Luckily enough judgement day is April 20.”
He added: “It was my worst version and his best version. When I turn up on April 20 you will see my best version.
“A draw is not what you want, it’s a loss in my eyes, looking to right the wrong really and I’m excited to do that.”
Watch Ben Whittaker vs Liam Cameron 2 on Sunday April 20, live on Sky Sports
