By Harvey Hudson
NUMBERS don’t lie, as far as the saying goes. However, this is not always the case and particularly where boxing records are concerned. Conah Walker is a fighter whose record alone refutes this old adage.
Walker’s record reads 13-3-1. Some of the factors that this array of numbers fails to exhibit include the contention that the losses have all been on razor-close decisions, plus the consistent entertainment provided through Walker’s fan-friendly style. Not forgetting numerous undefeated fighters’ scalps have been taken along the way.
After falling short in domestic tear ups against Samuel Antwi and Kane Gardner, Walker could have become another nearly-man in British boxing and could have well resided at the bottom of the queue of fighters seeking to get back into contention and big nights.
However, these setbacks didn’t seem to faze him or hinder his career in any way. Instead, when future opportunities came and the scripts were given to Walker as the away fighter, they were grabbed with both hands and torn to pieces.
Walker’s recent form reflects this, with back-to-back, against-the-odds wins in fights with Cyrus Pattinson and Lloyd Germain. Walker then fell short on the cards in his last fight against Lewis Crocker, a hard-hitting fighter ranked highly across multiple governing bodies on the world stage, in a Fight Of The Year contender.
The fight was close and divided opinion amongst fight fans, with some feeling Walker had done enough and others picking Crocker as the victor. This is a story that the unanimous decision loss on his record does not tell. The last round consisted of sheer guts and grit, and Walker acknowledged that he had a second wind.
“It was amazing,” Walker tells Boxing News. “That’s what I live for, them moments. I could have gone on. I think if it was 12 rounds I would have closed the show. I think I was getting really on top of him there. Obviously, them are the fights I live for. They are the fights I train for, and they are the fights that are gonna make you a better boxer.”
Walker has the attitude of a throwback fighter, and this is reflected in his resume and career. In the post-Mayweather era, when fighters and those involved in the sport have been so concerned about remaining undefeated that it borderlines on toxic, Walker has held the 0 with less regard and jumped into challenge after challenge regardless of results.
Although Saudi Arabia’s involvement in boxing and the injection of capital is seemingly curing this toxicity to an extent, as fighters are now being rewarded more regularly for fighting the best, fighters who have not featured on these cards must be rewarded for having this attitude too.
This is both important and healthy for the sport’s progression, and Walker has been rewarded again for his attitude and approach. After a post-fight promise from promoter Eddie Hearn, Walker will feature again on a Matchroom card.
Again, this will be near to his hometown of Wolverhampton, at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, on November 30th. This time against Lewis Ritson.
“Obviously, we had the chat after, me and Eddie, in the ring,” Walker explains. “He looked me dead in the eye and shook my hand and said listen this is not the end of the world. I sort of said to him, ‘listen I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity’ as you do when you lose and on a stage like that, you think you have to rebuild and you think you have to go back to the start. Nut he was like, no Conah, your gonna be back and we’ll get you back out there and that was an amazing fight and it could have gone either way, so he had a lot of good things to say.
“In all fairness, I think I deserve to be on this stage off the back of that performance anyway because he’s (Lewis Crocker) the number two ranked welterweight in the U.K. and I think he’s like 12th or 13th in the world in all the governing bodies and in my opinion I beat him. Look, if I didn’t come back on this stage I’d be shocked because I’ve just proved that I’m not just one of the best in Britain but touching high up in the rankings in the world level.”
“We’ve got a great gameplan and we are just getting better,” Walker tells Boxing News, as he looks ahead to his November 30th fight. “I’ve been active, I come fit as a fiddle, I make the weight good, and I do everything right. I’m an ultimate professional. For me, I’m happy to take on anyone in the welterweight division and it just so happens it’s Lewis Ritson and Lewis Ritson is in the way of where I wanna go.
“That’s all it is really, and I have no bad blood against him. He’s a nice bloke and I get on with him. I had to get under Crocker’s skin a bit because I think I needed him to come, and I needed to wind him up and get under his skin. We know what sort of job this is, and it is what it is.”
Looking further into Walker’s record and career, there is a somewhat dark yet intriguing pattern much deeper than his take-any-fight attitude and tendency to be in entertaining fights. Many of the fighters Walker has beaten have gone on to either not fight again or have returned and looked a shadow of their former self.
This does not seem purely coincidental, and Boxing News raises this to Walker. Does he break his opponents in the ring?
“I’ve never thought of it,” admits Walker. “That’s never even crossed my mind, in all honesty. I’ll be honest with you, without sounding big-headed: everyone that I spar says that I’m an absolute horrible person to be in the ring with.
“My pressure, I make people work like they’ve never worked. It’s one of them but honestly that’s shocking really, I have never looked at it like that.”
“I study a lot of the likes of Beterbiev, Golovkin, and Canelo” adds Walker, which is thought-provoking because many of Beterbiev’s opponents share a similar pattern.
“These are the sort of fighters that I try and mould myself to and they are sort of constant pressure and not giving them a rest and just hitting them when they are trying to rest. That’s what I’ve always tried to work my style to so it could possibly be. Like I say, when I get people hurt and when I feel people’s presence dip in the ring and you can feel they are getting tired, that’s what gives me the second wind. Like I said, at the end of the Crocker fight, I had my second wind, and he was dead and out. I could have done another six rounds.”
Interestingly, although Walker admits that he has not thought about his tendency to break his opponents in great depth or even recognised the pattern when discussing his upcoming fight with Lewis Ritson. Is this something he sets out to do to opponents subconsciously, or is it just coincidental?
“I think he’s been a great champion,” says Walker when discussing the Ritson fight. “I’ve got nothing but respect for him, like I’ve said in the press conference. He’s done more than me, he’s done a lot in his career. He’s been a household name and there’s no denying that. I watched and studied a lot of him when I was coming up and it feels like he’s been around for a long time but listen there are eras in boxing and this is my era. This will be his last fight, I think. I think I’ll beat the last bit of whatever he’s got left him in out.”