By James Slater: No stranger to having to do things the hard way, honest, hardworking pro Travis Walker of Houston, Texas has had big opportunities come his way before, only for the 33-year-old, 6’4,” approx 250-pound banger to either fall short or go home feeling as though he was hard done by.
In compiling his 39-7-1(31) ledger, the powerful but sometimes shaky-chinned “Freight Train” has been stopped by Chris Arreola (after scoring a knockdown of his own in a tasty three-round slugfest), he has been blown away inside a round by Manuel Quezda (“a shot I never saw coming.”) and he has dropped a close, debatable decision to Ruslan Chagaev (“I know I won that one.”)
The softly spoken Walker has also been stopped by T.J Wilson (a premature stoppage, later avenged), Johnathon Banks and, in a fight that received far less acclaim than it should have done, Alex Leapai, in what was another premature stoppage, this time to a great up-and-down battle.
But throughout it all, Walker has never given up. After losing an exhausting 12-rounder with Kubrat Pulev last October, Walker finally bagged a big victory: an upset 6th-round TKO over Kali Meehan in Australia this March (“My biggest win to date, but my best win will come September 8th!”) and now he has a massive opportunity against Tomasz Adamek on September 8th.
By James Slater – I can vividly remember Emanuel Steward, who was training featherweight sensation Naseem Hamed at the time, telling an interviewer that Hamed would, in time, go down in history as the greatest featherweight of all-time. I was shocked by those words, coming as they did from a highly knowledgeable and respected trainer. No way did I agree then (the statement was made by Emanuel just prior to the Barrera fight, back in 2001) and no way do I agree now.