BEN WHITTAKER will not fight again this year.

Instead, the 27-year-old could come back in the first quarter of 2025.

Whittaker, (8-0-1, 5 KOs) damaged his ankle last time out against Liam Cameron when both men went over the top rope landing on the ring apron. The fighters were brought back into the ring but it was Whittaker who looked the more distressed of the two and left the arena in a wheelchair.

“The ankle we could all see that was hurting but for me it was the neck [which] was a concern,” Whittaker’s promoter Ben Shalom told Sky Sports.

“For me I’ve been struggling with that. He was out for eight or nine months (between 2022 and 2023).

“For us it was a massive signing from the Olympics and we’ve been struggling with that. So, when I see him flip over the ropes with a 13 stone man fall on top of him and know what happened with the neck that was the first concern. And precaution means we wanna make sure that’s A-okay.

“[He] will not fight this year but looking for a big homecoming in February or March.”

The result of Whittaker vs. Cameron was a technical draw just as Cameron began to find a way back into the fight. The ending left a bitter taste in the Yorkshireman’s mouth who has since signed with Queensberry Promotions and made no secret of what he thinks of Whittaker.

A homecoming for Whittaker means a fight night in Wolverhampton for the 2020 Olympic medallist. The city staged a boxing event as recent as November 2023 when Adam Azim won the European super-lightweight title at Civic Hall.

Should Whittaker return when Shalom hopes the question is will Cameron be in the opposite corner?

“That is the fight in the front of my mind, in the front of his mind but first and foremost we need to see him comeback fit,” he answered.