Lewis Crocker wins Conah Walker WAR
Lewis Crocker battled hard to win a massively entertaining war in Birmingham tonight.
Conah Walker won fight fan’s respect with his gutsy display but ‘The Croc’ deservedly won the high-octane entertaining fight live on DAZN.
The quality and power of the Belfast man eventually cancelling out the quantity and persistence of his 29-year-old rival. ‘The Wolf’ did ask questions of the Billy Nelson-trained welter and his granite chin also meant he was afforded the chance to test the tank of the Conlan Boxing man in the latter rounds.
However, the 27-year-old had the answers and while he was tougher than he predicted, he registered a career-best win thanks to a performance of both will and skill.
The 96-93, 96-93, 95-94 victory should now set up a massive all-Irish fight with Paddy Donovan, who was watching ringside. Irish-boxing.com expects that eagerly anticipated bout to play out in Belfast in November.
Walker came as advertised and marched forward from the off. He wanted to be in close quarters from where he could work. Crocker welcomed the approach and waved ‘The Wolf’ in, happy to wait and land the more spiteful shots. One massive left hand in particular from a smiling Crocker caught the attention of Walker and everyone in attendance in an entertaining opener.
The second stanza was similar, Walker walking forward and trying to press the action but Crocker canceling out the Wolverhampton man’s volume with quality and power punches. The Sanyrow man again with the shots of the round, a big right hand down the pipe, and a sinking left to the body.
Walker’s output raised to another level in the third and he did manage to find passage past Crocker’s guard for the first time, landing some impressive body shots before the Billy Nelson trained man showed fast and heavy hands in the second half of the session.
Walker punched the air at the end of the fourth happy with the three minutes he put in. He had continued to apply the pressure and started to find holes in the Belfast man’s guard, although again the Sandy Row man landed some big clean shots.
Crocker showed his skill over the next two rounds, bringing his feet and jab into play, although Walker saw that as a sign his man was tiring and his constant pressure brought him some moments of success.
The Irish fighter showed real class in the seventh picking beautiful straight rights from range, firing them off a constant accurate jab. There was also some quality downstairs upstairs work in his best round of the fight.
By that stage, it looked like Crocker was ripe to stamp his authority on proceedings but war broke out in the eight. Crocker landed a four-punch combo that would have left most fighters looking up from the canvas in shock, but the teak-tough Wolverhampton native took them and responded well, landing a big right hand of his own. It was back and forth from the remain and the relentless pace continued into the ninth.
In fact, such was the action that those in attendance hadn’t time to process the point deduction ‘The Wolf’ was given at the start of the round. Walker marched forward and let leather fly but in doing so had to take some massive shots from the Conlan Boxing in another action-packed round.
The crowd were on their feet in the last. Both men stood and traded, leaving it all in the ring in a bid to ensure they got what could be a crucial round in the overall scoring. In keeping with the narrative of the fight Walker was full of work but ‘The Croc’ bit down on his gum shield and lashed in some big shots to sway the judges.
The win sees Crocker improve to 20-0, Walker is now a 13-4-1 fighter.
