Ben Whittaker injured after flipping out of ring as Liam Cameron fight declared a split decision draw

Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron collided and collapsed over the top rope in the fifth round of their 10-round light-heavyweight contest as it ended early in a split-decision draw.

They fell all the way out of the ring, landing on the ring apron. Whittaker was hurt and could not continue.

That saw their bout for the IBF International title come to an abrupt ending as Whittaker could not come out for the sixth round.

Whittaker immediately left the arena in a wheelchair.

With five rounds completed, the bout went to the scorecards, and ended as a split draw.

One judge scored it 58-57 for Whittaker, the other had it for Cameron by the same margin, while the third had them level at 58-58.

It had become a difficult bout for Whittaker, even though he started the busier of the pair.

In the first round, Whittaker whipped through rapid jabs before he fired his right into the body. A short cross blasted in too. But Cameron adjusted and, throwing a chopping backhand, caught Whittaker in the second round.

He countered Whittaker’s cross with a left hook and was finding openings in a strong showing. Cameron blocked shots and, suddenly confident, stuck his tongue out at his opponent.

That prompted Whittaker to respond. But he was increasingly being drawn in to trading with Cameron, standing his ground and slugging with his opponent.

He wasn’t working from long distance, perhaps where he ought to be. But he was managing to mark Cameron up round the eye.

Whittaker brought a right over the top as they worked at each other. But heavy left hooks from Cameron catch Whittaker.

The Olympic silver medallist looked ragged too in the fifth round when Cameron clubbed his right into him.

Whittaker turned up his assault, but got a telling-off for going low.

Then disaster struck as Cameron walked him back to the rigging until they both tumbled over the top rope and crashed on the ring apron, with the one left hurt after the accident.

Local fighter Mohammed Alakel, trained by British coach Joe Gallagher, had a successful professional debut, a rousing reception at the Kingdom Arena when he outpointed Jesus Gonzalez in their four-rounder.

Alakel won 40-36 for all three judges. Gonzalez might have been hurt at times but he made sure he worked his way through to the final bell.

Was Whittaker looking for a way out?

Whittaker left the arena in a wheelchair and was taken to hospital – but Cameron was quick to claim that his team told him to stay down after the pair fell over the ropes at the end of round five.

Sky Sports expert Johnny Nelson reviewed replays of the incident and says Whittaker has some questions to answer.

“From the off you saw Ben trying to punch through his opponent with every shot – and his opponent just wouldn’t have it. He stuck to him,” he said.

“Ben was getting tired and after two or three rounds I said if he carries on like this in the second half of the fight, he’s going to struggle.

“Then this happens.

“Now I’m a massive fan of Ben Whittaker. I’ve sang his praises constantly, but he needs to watch the replay before he says anything to anybody about what the injury is.

“We’ve looked at it time and time again and we’ve not seen that right ankle hit anything. We thought it was his back. There needs to be some explanation around it.

“It looks like he was trying to find a way out and I feel bad saying that.”

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