Conor Wallace won a light heavyweight eliminator to decide the IBF’s No. 2 spot with victory over Jerome Pampellone.
Pampellone was aggressive early, firing right hands downstairs and letting his hands go while southpaw Wallace had his back to the ropes. Wallace, knowing he did not want to encourage Pamepllone by sitting there, started firing back and started to roar back in a lively opening session.
Pampellone was guilty of often loading up with his right hand, but Wallace was moving more conservatively, using his faster hands, moving his feet well and jabbing smartly.
Wallace landed a smooth left in the fifth and Pampellone, still trying to move forward, was trying to land single shots, including his jab the body and another big right hand.
He kept trying to time Wallace with the right hand through the sixth, but Wallace’s better boxing earned him the session. Pampellone had his best moments with Wallace on the ropes but Wallace finished the session with a steady right-left.
After eight, Pampellone was told in the corner, “This is anybody’s fucking fight” but the pattern remained the same. Pampellone, now 18-2 (11 KOs), never stopped coming but Wallace had an answer for just about everything he threw.
Scores were a split by two scores of 116-112 for Wallace with one card favoring Pampellone by 115-113.
“This means everything to me, we stuck to the game plan. I barely got touched,” said Wallace, who is now targeting the winner of October’s bout between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. “I’m only getting started. I’m only a baby.”
Wallace, who was born in the UK, fights out of Fortitude Valley Queensland, while Pampellone is London-born but lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
Wallace, is 14-1 (10 KOs). His lone loss came against Leti Leti on a majority back in 2021. Pampellone’s previous defeat came to Malik Zinad in a fight that earned Zinad a shot at WBA champion Dmitriy Bivol.
The contest of duelling 3-0 prospects saw Dharringarra Trewhella and Calvin Jensen battle on even terms over six rounds at welterweight.
All three judges marked 58-56 for Trewhella, the 22-year-old from Sydney who is now 4-0 (1 KO). Trewhella is Anthony Mundine’s nephew and Jensen – who endured a tough opening round – pushed him every step of the way. Several felt southpaw Jensen could have earned a draw.
In a four-round middleweight war, Sonny Knight bested Rob Stringer via split decision. The fighters wound up teeing off on one another to close the show and ran out a winner on two cards by 39-37 and 40-36 while one judge voted for Stringer at 39-37. The 40-36 scorecard was jarring and didn’t reward Stringer for his efforts.
Newcastle’s Knight is now 3-0 (2 KOs). Stringer is 1-3.
Billy Polkinghorn, 3-0 (1 KO), born in England but fighting out of Perth, Australia, won a five-round fight over New Zealand’s Michael Reynolds. He won by 50-45 (twice) and 49-46.
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