'Now I'm even more dangerous' - Conah Walker out to cap memorable year with British title defence

A year ago this weekend the Wolverhampton welterweight stood exhausted in the ring at Birmingham’s BP Pulse Arena, convinced his shot at the big time had disappeared for good after an agonising points defeat to Lewis Crocker.

“I remember thanking Eddie Hearn for the opportunity,” recalls Walker. “It had always been a dream of mine to box under the Matchroom banner, so I appreciated him for giving me the time of day.

“But I’d lost the fight, so as far as I was concerned, that was that.”

Yet fast forward 12 months and on Saturday, Walker will enter the same venue as British champion.

Far from being the end of his journey, the 30-year-old’s performance in the loss to Crocker - in a barnstorming bout many observers still believe he won - convinced promoter Hearn he was a boxer worth backing.

“His response to me in the ring that night, when I went to thank him was: ‘Conor, I am definitely having you back. That was an unbelievable fight’.

“We signed a three-fight deal and since then, I’ve been flying.”

Hearn’s faith has been rewarded, with Walker following up a points win over veteran Lewis Ritson by ripping the British title from the grasp of Harry Scarff with a dramatic 11th round knockout in January.

Ahead of his first defence of the Lonsdale belt, against former European champion Liam Taylor on Saturday, there is justified talk of a possible future world title shot. 

Crocker will face Paddy Donovan in a rematch of their IBF world title eliminator later this year. Walker, should he keep winning, could make strong case for facing the victor somewhere in the near future.

“The British title was always the pinnacle for me,” he says. “When I set out on my professional career, that is what I was trying to achieve. 

“I have achieved it now and I still have plenty of life left in me, so I am on the world title hunt.”

Walker has made a major change in the bid to realise the dream.

The decision to part ways with trainer Richie Ghent came as a shock to many in the Midlands, considering their partnership coincided with Walker’s surge of four wins from five fights (with Crocker the only defeat) which catapulted him from the small hall scrapper to British champ.

Yet Walker, who lives just a five minute drive from Ghent’s Bilston gym, feared he was slipping into a comfort zone and after acknowledging he had been under-par in beating Ritson and then well behind on the cards before stunning Scarff, sought the guidance of former European super welterweight champ turned trainer Jamie Moore in a bid to reach the next level.

He now trains four days a week at Moore’s Manchester gym and plans to show on Saturday how the new coaching set-up has made him an even more relentless fighter than before.

“Jamie was a pressure fighter, I am a pressure fighter, so I have been picking his brains and he has been giving me the tricks of the trade you might not get from elsewhere,” says Walker. 

“I think you are going to see the dangerous side of what I can bring. I will make people feel they have not got a single second to rest. It is going to be even harder to deal with me now.”

Walker continued: “Me and Rich are still best friends. 

“There is nothing changed between us on that score and I want to give him all the respect and props for the belts and the fights we had together. Without him, I would have achieved none of it.

“I was living five minutes from the gym. I’d go there, come back. I felt like I was starting to plateau a little bit. I needed something to bring the spark back. I think I have found that with Jamie.”

Walker knows he first cannot risk looking beyond Taylor, who has won 28 of his 31 professional bouts and previously held the WBO European crown.

It was the Lancashire fighter, four years the senior man at 34, who was initially lined-up to face the awkward Scarff before Walker stepped in late to take the fight and eventually the belt.

For the Wolverhampton man, there is the almost unusual experience of going in as favourite but he says: “In my head I am still the underdog.

“The Ritson fight was a wake-up call. I was favourite going into that and I was looking past him. I know I didn’t perform as well as I should have.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are the favourite or the underdog, you just have to focus on the next man. 

“Me and Liam have sparred a couple of times in the past. We are on friendly terms and there is no bad blood. 

“I respect what he has done. I think he has achieved massive things in the sport. But this is my time.”