Conah Walker: I'm going to take Pat McCormack into deep waters and drown him

“It’s another world out here,” chuckles the 30-year-old Wolverhampton welterweight. “It’s absolutely amazing.”

Hotel room tours aside, there has been little time for Walker to take in the sights and smells of one of the world’s most glamorous locations. His reason for being there is strictly business.

“This is my office for the week,” he says at one point.

On Saturday night, Walker faces Pat McCormack aiming to continue one of the best runs in British boxing which, over the course of two-and-a-bit years, has taken him from the small hall circuit to a British title and into the conversation as a potential world title contender.

That latter possibility would move a significant step closer should he beat Olympic silver medallist McCormack at Salle des Etoiles, in a fight fascinating in large part for the fact it is one neither man desperately needed.

That is certainly the case for Sunderland’s McCormack who, for all his undoubted amateur pedigree, has somewhat rolled the dice by agreeing to face Walker just eight fights into his professional career.

Walker, meanwhile, a boxer who has benefited so much from a willingness to take the hard road, turned down the option of a hand-picked mandatory defence of his British crown to instead target McCormack and the latter’s No.4 ranking with the WBA.

Some pressure, admittedly, is relieved by the fight being overseas, meaning the British title is not on the line. But there is so much to gain.

“I had an opportunity to fight a mandatory defence of the British but I chose Pat, someone who is going to test me mentally and physically,” says Walker.

“That is what I need. It has brought the best out of me.”

Walker branded bookmaker’s odds which make McCormack a clear favourite “offensive” but in truth he is far happier being the underdog.

“Six fights ago you put me on a show to get beat. What a mistake that was!” he told Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn this week, in reference to the stunning eighth-round knockout of Cyrus Pattinson in Birmingham in August 2023 which started his improbable rise.

Walker followed it by halting another previously unbeaten prospect in Lloyd Germain and in January this year ripped the British title out of Harry Scarff’s grasp with an 11th round stoppage.

His only defeat in the six-fight sequence was on points to Lewis Crocker, a bout many who were at ringside that night believe Walker won. Crocker has since gone on to become IBF world champion. Should Walker win on Saturday, it would strengthen his case for a re-match.

A fan-friendly fighter thanks to his relentless style, around 100 supporters are making their way from the Midlands to the Principality to roar him on.

“I’m humbled by the support,” he says. “The big nights are what I am used to now. This is my seventh fight with Matchroom and it has become the new normal for me. I am going from strength to strength and people can see that with every fight.”

Undoubtedly tough, Walker is determined to prove there is more to his boxing than merely brawn. A deep-thinking character away from the ring, preparations for this fight have included weekly hypnotherapy sessions, a tactic used by many a great of the sport including Mike Tyson.

“It’s been revolutionary for me,” says Walker. “I’ve always been heavily interested in the mind and how it works. I’ve read books on the flow state, which is the optimal state of anxiety.

“With the hypnosis, you can visualise how the fight goes, visualise certain punches. 

“I went all the way from walking into the arena with the kit I am wearing, the smell, the changing room, the warming up. 

“I have put my brain through it already. It doesn’t know fact or fiction with the hypnosis, so my brain has been through it a million times before. 

“On the night it just makes me ooze confidence. I have visualised it, manifested it. I know all I have to do is execute.”

Walker is never going to dispute McCormack’s class as a boxer. But on this occasion, he believes his opponent has bitten off more than he can chew.

“If this fight was over three rounds, you’d beat me,” he told McCormack during Thursday’s heated press conference. “But it isn’t. It’s over 12.”

He later explained: “Anyone can go three rounds and grind it out. But when you step it up to 10 or 12 rounds and go at someone else’s pace, it puts you in deep waters. 

“If you swim, you swim but if you sink, you sink. I have done that and come out the good side. 

“He has yet to prove to anyone or himself he can swim so on Saturday, we are going to see how good he is. 

“If he is as good as they say, he should pass with flying colours. But I will be in his way to make sure that doesn’t happen. I am going to take him to deep waters and drown him.”

They are bold words but such is Walker’s track record at upsetting the odds it would be the brave man who bets against him. In Monte-Carlo, a fairytale kind of place, he again intends to prove he is very much for real.

“When we arrived here on Tuesday, my manager asked me earlier if I had ever envisioned anything like this?” he says. 

“The honest answer is, yes I did. The person I am, I always set goals further than I can achieve.

“Yeah, in the past it might have been something I thought was unrealistic but you have to set those goals, haven’t you? 

“You have to be unrealistic to get where you want to in this game. So yeah, I did envision it. I have worked really hard and I know I am a good fighter. On Saturday, I’ll prove how good I really am.”