Expect the battle of the year, says Conah Walker ahead of the tough competition

Written by Matt Bozeat

EDDIE Hearn has been told he will smile again soon. The Matchroom boss was on the receiving end of a 5-0 whitewash against 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 played the home game of the year.

Walker will have a say in the story. The fight he is tipped to go to the top of the polls is his 10-round bout with Lewis Crocker in Birmingham on Saturday, June 22.

“We're both exciting players, come forward,” said the Wolverhampton welterweight, “and it's a 50-50 fight.”

Maybe it will succeed her victory over Cyrus Pattinson last August?

Shortly after Walker's three-round, eight-round knockout, Hearn told broadcaster DAZN that it was “one of the best fights I've ever seen.”

Walker says Hearn was “on his feet like crazy. His son was being beaten.”

The result gave Hearn options on Walker and meant he had to rethink his plan to match Pattinson with Lewis Ritson in the North East derby.

Walker didn't want to ruin those plans as he was about to lose, at 140lbs to Kane Gardner.

“Losing is my gain,” said the 29-year-old, who is co-owned by Mick Carney and Errol Johnson and trained by the former Richie Ghent.

“I got opportunities because of it. They think that because I have been beaten I will roll over. The opposite is true. The loss made me very hungry.

“Before the Pattinson fight, I was like: 'Don't want me.' No one was hitting me that night.”

The talk now is of the Irish clash between Crocker and Paddy Donovan.

Donovan stopped Ritson in nine rounds in the Jack Catterall-Josh Taylor II showdown and Walker said: “The pundits were saying Donovan-Crocker was the biggest fight in Ireland. They ignore me again.”

Walker and Crocker clashed while boxing in the same building in Belfast in January.

After Pattinson was pulled out of their rematch with an eye injury, Walker received a late call-up to face Welsh champion Lloyd Germain (9-0) and was forced to a third-round stoppage, while Crocker knocked out Jose Felix ( 40-6-1) with a trademark left hook in the fifth.

“I sized him up (Crocker) at the top and he looked like a frail boy,” said Walker, who has a one-year-old son Leo with partner Isabelle White.

“I know you are strong in weight. He struggled with that and they said he only had five weeks left to prepare. I was only two weeks old and gaining weight. “

Walker says his points loss to Manchester's Gardner in front of the Channel Five cameras last March convinced him that 140lbs is not his weight.

“I had no legs,” Walker said. “It took a lot out of me to get down to 140lbs. All my career people have been saying I should be at 140lbs, but it didn't pay off. I felt down before the fight and slept the night of the fight.”

Moving up to 147lbs, only Samuel Antwi beat Walker, in a unanimous decision for the British belt in Cardiff in February, 2022.

Walker thought he deserved better than losing by one, two and three points on the scorecards and has seen Antwi go on to win British honors at 154lbs.

“I feel like I'm better prepared for this,” Walker said when he faced off against Crocker.

“I fought unbeatens in my fifth and sixth fights (Nathan Bendon and Ohio's Kain Iremiren) and I've fought for the Midlands and English titles.

“He didn't fight with the full welterweight belt that comes with it.

“He looked good against Tyrone (McKenna in the 10-point win last December) because he had the opportunity to move and punch. He needs those spaces to generate his energy and he won't face me.”

Walker and Ricky Hatton looked fit after Conah turned pro in 2018 following a run to the semi-finals of the Elite Championship, where he lost to Harvey Lambert.

Walker first appeared on Hatton's radar at the 2017 Development Championships final in Solihull.

Hatton was there to see his son Campbell win the minor honors and the well-supported Walker was in strong form as he added the Class B 69kgs title to the 75kgs he won two years ago.

“Being one of the experts with Ricky made for a great essay,” Walker said.

“It was a great venue, but it was a long drive (to Hatton's gym in Hyde, Greater Manchester) and my partner (Isabelle) and I were pushing the baby.”

Walker headed home and in his first fight with champion Ghent in his corner, won the Midlands Area welterweight title by knocking out Levi Ferguson (5-1) in Sheffield in May, 2021.

“We've lost a few times (since then),” Walker said, “but I've never thought about leaving him. They were down to me and I learned from them.

“I was going to fight in the heat of the moment. Smoke came out of my ears!

“I wanted to go in there and kill them instead of relaxing in the fight and destroying them.”

That style made Walker famous. He expects to have 700 fans behind him when he faces Crocker at the Resorts World Arena later this month and Walker is sure they will get their money's worth.

“The war of the year is written all over the place,” he said.