RYAN WALKER PREPARING FOR 'TOUGH TEST' AHEAD OF SATURDAY'S RING RETURN
by Eliot Stott
10 months after suffering his first defeat as a professional, Super-Bantanweight Ryan Walker fights at Steve Goodwin’s first show of the season at York Hall, Bethnal Green this Saturday night.
Originally making his ring return in June, Walker returned to winning ways, topping every round of the contest.
Walker moves into the 11th fight of his career against the experienced Stefan Sashev and is obviously raring to go.
“I’m feeling good, ready to go on the 07th of September back at York Hall. [I'm] hugely focused on this one and getting the job done with the intention of being back out again before the end of the year.”
Walker is looking to bounce back after his English title defeat against Michael Ramabeletsa, a 01st round stoppage almost a year ago for the English Super-Bantamweight title.
“To be honest, the fight was taken way too early from my side. It was my 09th pro-fight and I was too inexperienced to handle certain situations." said Walker
"Going into the fight, I wasn’t feeling myself which I obviously should have told my team about beforehand. I couldn’t breathe properly and my nose was blocked. Regardless of that, I can’t make any excuses, I lost the fight fair and square, making simple mistakes in the process"
"I’ve learnt a lesson from the fight and have made a successful comeback since then so just keen on moving forward now really.”
Understandably, Walker and his team struggled to turn down an English title fight after only 8 fights but the Londoner doesn’t necessarily regret taking the fight.
"Perhaps due to the way that I lost the fight, it stuck with me for a long time and took me a while to get over it. Many people aren’t aware of how much hard work goes into preparing for a fight, from the outside, I was told to just get over it and get back up on my feet but it simply isn’t that easy."
"However, It was far too much of an opportunity to turn down. Michael’s a much more experienced fighter than I am with 10 more years as a professional. He’s also much bigger at the weight than me which didn’t help."
"Regardless of this my team and I took the fight believing I could win. This time we’re looking to take the Southern Area title first before resuming back to English title level afterwards. "
Walker was keen to discuss the future rather than the past on more than one occasion when asked about the possibility of a rematch with Ramabeletsa in the future.
Still young at the age of 27, Walker insists that he’s focused on Saturday night more than anything and is keen to impress in front of a packed York Hall.
"It’s always possible to get that fight. I can’t think too much about this or that fight to be honest with you, I need to focus on the next fight and the next fight only at the moment.
In regards to Saturday night, I’m more worried about what I’m doing rather than what my opponent is going to do. I know he’s had many more fights than I have and he’s a southpaw but apart from that I don’t know too much. I dominated in my last fight so I’m hoping that this is more of a test. "
To finish things off, as an avid social media user, Ryan praised the way in which it's invaluable to him as a small hall fighter when selling tickets.
"For me, social media is so incredibly powerful and an easy way of communicating with people. I’m in a position where I have to sell tickets on these shows, so social media is essential."
"I take inspiration from guys at the top when it comes to my social media image but I’ve stayed true to myself at the same time. My support is increasing fight by fight and social media has played a big part in that."
"Out of all the platforms, I’d say that Instagram has been the most successful when it comes to selling tickets for some reason."
Ryan fights this Saturday night at the famous York Hall on a packed card full of championship fights.
You can get tickets via www.teamphyz.com or on Ryan’s official Instagram page - @teamphyz.