Harry Scarff begins his climb back up the ladder today, with world championships the desired destination.
Scarff will defend his British welterweight title against Conah Walker at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena. Scarff is coming off the back of a defeat to Karen Chukhadzhian in a final eliminator for Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ IBF title. Scarff held his own with Chukhadzhian, who went on to give a good account of himself when he rematched Ennis for the title in his next bout. Scarff is now dropping back down to British level to make his first defense since beating Ekow Essuman.
Scarff believes the level that he has fought at compared to that of Walker will show on the night.
“I think even still I’m not at my best now,” Scarff told BoxingScene. “I pushed [Chukhadzhian] close, and he just pushed Boots Ennis close, so I think that shows the level I’m at. Then Ekow [Essuman], that win looks good. But you’ve also got to think about the Louis Green win, I boxed his head off, and then he’s gone on and done well, won the Commonwealth, had some good fights, and he’s fighting again for the British now. So I think I always get a little bit overlooked, but I’m a serious fighter. I think that’s what I’m saying with Walker; it’s going to be one step too far for him this one.”
Walker has had a hard route of his own on his way to challenging Scarff for the British title. Walker was matched hard and suffered defeats to Samuel Antwi and Kane Gardner. Walker then bounced back and defeated Cyrus Patterson before he was narrowly pipped by Lewis Crocker.
“I think he’s a decent fighter,” Scarff said. “I’m not overlooking him, I’m expecting the best Conah Walker. But I feel like I’ve just got the better resume, and I think I do everything better. Who’s his best win? I don’t really know. He did well in the Crocker fight, but I think Crocker just held his feet with him and tried to knock him out, and that sort of played into his hands. I think this one’s just too much for him.”
Walker has been vocal about how he plans pushing the action and has taunted Scarff saying that he will not be able to stand and trade with him.
“He’s banking on the fact that he can just walk me down and he’s going to be stronger than me or whatever?” said Scarff. “He’s got one style. We know that, but he ain’t stronger than me. Look at Ekow [Essuman]; he’s a strong welterweight with a high work rate, and I was the one who finished the fight and was stronger on the inside, in my opinion. So, yeah, I don’t know where he’s going with it all. He’s going to have a hard night on Saturday, very hard.”
Scarff has already started planning ahead of his fight with Walker. The British champion has unfinished business at domestic level before he begins his march back towards world honors.
“I want to win my British title right this year, I want to do that fast,” he said. “That’s something like a bucket list type of thing, win one of them, get one of them on the wall at home, a Lonsdale belt, that would be beautiful to do that. Get this one out of the way on Saturday and then a couple of months later I want to defend it again. Then I’ve got one more defense to win it outright. Then towards the back end of the year, early next, it will be a case of pushing for the world title, in and around the world title mix.
“I feel like at welterweight, there’s not loads, there’s not loads,” he continued. “I feel like what we mentioned with Chukhadzhian and Boots, I think it shows the level that I’m at. You’ve got that Barrios, I’m not sure about some of the other names around world title. But yeah, we can look at that towards the back end of the year. I’m ready and confident.”
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