By Matt Bozeat
EDDIE Hearn has been told he will soon be smiling again. The Matchroom chiefs suffered a 5-0 defeat to arch-rivals Queensberry in their ‘5 vs 5’ match in Saudi Arabia last weekend.
If Conah Walker is right, Hearn will also remember 2024 as the year he hosted the domestic tournament of the year.
Walker will have a say in the matter. The fight he is aiming for at the top of the polls is his 10-round fight with Lewis Crocker in Birmingham on Saturday, June 22.
“We’re both very exciting, let’s move forward,” the Wolverhampton welterweight said, “and it’s a 50-50 fight.”
Maybe it will surpass his win over Cyrus Pattinson last August?
Immediately after Walker’s three-round, eight-round loss, Hearn told DAZN broadcasters that it was “one of the best fights I have ever seen.”
Hearn “got up and went crazy,” Walker said. His son was beaten.”
The result leaves Hearn with options on Walker and means he has to rethink his plans to pit Pattinson against Lewis Ritson in the North East derby.
Walker didn’t want to spoil those plans because he was coming off a loss, dropping 140 pounds to Kane Gardner.
“The losses have worked in my favor,” said the 29-year-old, who is co-managed by Mick Carney and Errol Johnson and coached by former pro Richie Ghent.
“I got my chance thanks to them. They thought that because I was beaten, I would roll over. The opposite is the case. The losses made me even hungrier.
“Before the Pattinson fight, I said, ‘Don’t fight me.’ That night no one hit me.”
The talk now is about the All-Ireland clash between Crocker and Paddy Donovan.
Donovan stopped Ritson in nine rounds on the Jack Catterall-Josh Taylor II show and Walker said: “Commentators say Donovan-Crocker is a huge clash in Ireland. They’re looking at me again.”
Walker and Crocker met by chance when they played the same bill in Belfast in January.
Belfast, UK: Lewis Crocker v Jose Felix, WBO intercontinental welterweight title. January 27, 2024. Photo by Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing.
After Pattinson was ruled out of the rematch with an eye injury, Walker was called up late for his fight with Welsh champion Lloyd Germain (9-0) and forced a third-round stoppage, while Crocker knocked out Jose Felix (40 -6-1) with his signature left hook in the fifth.
Walker, who has one-year-old son Leo with partner Isabelle White, said: “I sized him up (Crocker) in the elevator and he looked like a weak boy.
“I know he’s stressed about his weight. He was very thoughtful about it and they said he only had five weeks to prepare. I’m only two weeks in and I’m already gaining weight.”
Walker said his points loss to Manchester-leading Gardner in front of Channel Five cameras last March convinced him that 140lbs was not his weight.
“I have no legs,” Walker said. “I had to work so hard to get down to 140 lbs. Throughout my career, people kept telling me I should weigh 140 lbs, but it didn’t work. I felt stuck before the fight and defeated on fight night.
At 147lbs, only Samuel Antwi has beaten Walker, with a unanimous decision for the British title in Cardiff in February 2022.
Walker thought he deserved better than losing one, two and three points on the scorecards and saw Antwi go on to win the British title at 154lbs.
“I feel like I’m better prepared for this,” Walker said of his clash with Crocker.
“I fought undefeated fighters in the fifth and sixth fights (Nathan Bendon and Ohio Kain Iremiren) and I fought for the Midlands and English titles.
“He hasn’t fought a welterweight fighter who is brave enough to win it.
“He looked very good against Tyrone (McKenna in the 10-point win last December) because he had a chance to move and punch. He needs those spaces to create his power and he will not use them against me.”
Walker and Ricky Hatton seemed a perfect fit after Conah turned professional in 2018 after reaching the semi-finals of the Elite Championship, where he was defeated by Harvey Lambert.
Walker first appeared on Hatton’s radar at the 2017 Development Championship final in Solihull.
Hatton was there to see his son Campbell win the junior title and the well-supported Walker was in a particularly strong mood as he added the Grade B title at 69kg to his 75kg title which he won two years ago.
“Going pro with Ricky created a great storyline for me,” Walker said.
“It’s a great platform, but there’s too much traveling (to Hatton’s gym in Hyde, Greater Manchester) and my partner (Isabelle) and I are looking to have a baby.”
Walker headed home and in his first fight with the former Ghent pro in his corner, he won the Midlands Area welterweight title by defeating Levi Ferguson (5-1) in Sheffield in May 2021.
“We had a few losses (since then) but I never thought about leaving him,” Walker said. They were disappointed with me and I learned from them.
“I got into a fight too impatiently. I have smoke coming out of my ears!
“I want to go in there and kill them instead of relaxing into the fight and taking them out.”
That style made Walker famous. He hopes to have 700 supporters behind him when he faces Crocker at the Resorts World Arena later this month and Walker believes they will get value for money.
“It has the name of the year’s war written on it,” he said.
