By James Slater – Exciting heavyweight contender Travis “Freight Train” Walker survived an early knockdown to pound out a close points win over once-beaten big man Alonzo Butler on Saturday night, and the 31-year-old can look forward to moving up at least a few places in the rankings as a result..
Walker has now won his last two, and he is 36-6-1(28) overall. Butler, the same age as Walker, has never been stopped yet he is now 28-2-1(21).
Coming off the back of his useful points win over Darnell Wilson in February, Walker, these days concentrating on his boxing skills instead of going for the big KO, got up from the 1st-round knockdown to dominate the rest of the action. Despite his good effort, one judge managed to have the fight a draw at 93-93, The other two officials had Walker winning by respective scores of 94-89 and 96-92.
The new NABA heavyweight champ spoke to Floridatoday.com about his win over “Big Zo.”
“I worked him after he came out throwing everything he could,” Walker said. “He knocked me square in the face and knocked me down [in the 1st-round.] I just got back up and kept fighting. I knew in my mind I had to win it. I used my jab and kept my hands high and worked his body.”
Possessing underrated boxing skills, including a solid left jab, Walker scored the biggest win of his career for some time. Best known for his losing slugfests with Chris Arreola and, in a real barnburner, Alex Leapi, “Freight Train” showed patience and heart on Saturday night. As big as he is at 6’4” and approx 240-pounds, Walker was the smaller man against the 260-pound Butler.
Looking ahead, there are some decent fights that can be made for Walker. A return with Australia’s Leapi would be very interesting, and Walker has also expressed interest in going back in with Arreola. Still believing he can become a world champion, Walker has a new promoter and a new bunch of people around him. Always involved in fights that are worth watching, the warrior who lives in Houston, Texas can be relied upon to remain active and get back in the ring soon.
As for Butler, whose only other loss came at the hands of Friday Ahunanya in 2008; he needs to fight more often if he is to live up to his early promise.