The longer you watch boxing, the more you learn to appreciate the intricacies and subtleties that separate the good from the great.
We marvel at the way top level fighters can dictate a fight using only a jab or make tiny, fight-winning adjustments in the heat of battle.
As cruel as it sounds, you even learn to take pleasure in watching a high-class technician slowly dissect an overmatched opponent.
Still, everybody who watches boxing was initially drawn to the sport through a pretty basic desire to watch people fight and when the boxers forget to jab, square up their feet and trade hooks, everybody moves just a little closer to the edge of their seat.
On the face of it, the welterweight contest between Lewis Crocker and Conah Walker should offer something for everyone. Both fighters are made for television but they are also quality operators who are approaching the peak of their powers. Both possess the power to bring matters to a swift, dramatic conclusion.
Boxing teaches you to never take anything for granted but it would be a major surprise if Crocker and Walker produce anything other than a top-quality war when they meet in Birmingham’s Resorts World Arena on June 22nd.
“We don’t need to sell the fight. It sells itself. He’s undefeated and is meant to be this big puncher. I’m yet to find that out,” Walker, 13-2-1 (5 KOs), said.
“Is he the toughest fight of my career? Maybe. Who knows. We’ll find out on fight night, but I think you just keep giving me opponents who are made for me.”
Crocker, 19-0 (11 KOs), agreed wholeheartedly.
“When this fight got announced, the whole public said it was a war and that’s exactly what it’s going to be,” he said. “Toe to toe from the bell. I could easily outbox this guy, honestly, but it’s not gonna be like that. It’s gonna be toe-to-toe and I know he’s the same.”
Walker’s career is a study in persistence. In 2022, the former Midlands Area champion came up just short in a bid for Samuel Antwi’s English title and then lost a decision to Kane Gardner after an ill advised move down to 140lbs. Undeterred, he accepted a difficult looking fight with Cyrus Pattinson but put in an outstanding display to bully the previously undefeated Geordie to an eighth round defeat. He followed that up by blowing away another unbeaten fighter, Lloyd Germain, in three rounds.
Walker isn’t one to consolidate and tread water and when the opportunity to fight Crocker presented itself, he leapt at the chance. Rather than worrying about the threat posed by the Irishman and tempering his approach slightly, Walker is the type to ramp up the aggression and walk directly towards the danger.
“It all depends on what Crocker comes out on the night. He claims to be a dog but until he meets a real dog, we’ll see if its there. I’m a real dog. I’m there to have a good old ding dong.
“Lewis Crocker is the first step towards massive, massive fights. He’s not gonna get in the way of where I wanna go. I’m really looking forward to this one.”
For a long time, the ferocious punching of Crocker made him the bogeyman of the British welterweight scene but the 27-year-old kicked down the door to big fights by beating his Belfast rival, Tyrone McKenna, last December.
Crocker had firmly established his reputation within the industry but McKenna was the ideal opponent to help him break through and make an impression with the ticket-buying public. McKenna is an exciting fighter who instinctively understands how to sell a fight.
Given the platform he for long yearned, Crocker delivered. Only McKenna’s incredible toughness enabling him to last the distance.
Keen to capitalise on his success, Crocker cut short his festive celebrations and accepted a bill-topping fight with Mexico’s Jose Felix just six weeks later. Already naturally bigger than Felix, Crocker missed weight by three pounds, a mistake which cast a shadow over his fifth-round knockout.
Walker isn’t at the end of his career like McKenna and although he will give a way an inch or two in height he is a solid, dense welterweight - unlike Felix.
“He’s in form,” Crocker said of Walker. “His last two fights he looked great and had two stoppage wins. i just believe he’s bitten off more than he can chew this time. I just believe I’m the better fighter. This is what fighting’s about. Fighters should take the fights. We’re boxers. That’s what it’s all about. We shouldn’t be turning down fights.
“I’m training flat out at the minute, and this has even given me more determination because I can see the drive he has. It’s got war written all over it.”