NOTTINGHAM – Conah Walker dramatically knocked out Harry Scarff to win the British welterweight title at the Nottingham Arena in England.
Scarff, now 13-4 (3 KOs), was leading on all three judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage; two had given Walker, now 15-3-1 (6 KOs), one round and another gave him none. Walker seemed like he was running out of ideas but he managed to find two big shots midway through round 11 and Scarff, although returned to his feet, was stopped moments later.
Walker struggled with Scarff in the first; Scarff used his superior height and range well, pawing his lead hand into the guard of Walker before following it up with a right hand. Walker was more physical in the second; he pushed Scarff on to the ropes but was unable to land anything significant. The fight turned scrappy in the third. Both men came together but it was Scarff who managed to land the cleaner punches of the two.
Walker continued to struggle with Scarff’s style. It was easy to see why Scarff had picked up the nickname “Horrible”; he was able to land his rangy shots before tying Walker up as he came inside to land his own. At the end of the third Walker landed a sharp left at the sound of the bell and Scarff, seemingly frustrated at himself, returned one back before he walked to his corner.
The referee warned both Scarff and Walker to keep it clean before the fourth session began, but the scrappy nature of their contest continued. Walker just could not pin Scarff down, and the champion started to grow in confidence as the fourth round ended. Scarff started to find success in the southpaw stance as Walker struggled to move away from his looping left hand. Walker was growing increasingly frustrated in the sixth; Scarff was able to keep him at bay with his southpaw jab and glided effortlessly away from trouble. Scarff looked like he was enjoying himself and offered Walker his hand at the end of the sixth, but Walker, with a look of frustration, ignored it.
Walker was running out of ideas in the seventh and Scarff seemed to be comfortable. Again Walker could not get past Scarff’s long jab, and when he eventually got in range Scarff pivoted away with ease. At the close of the eighth, Walker landed a heavy left to Scarff’s temple that wobbled the champion and forced him to grab the ropes to stay aloft. Scarff recovered quickly, and returned fire before the bell sounded.
Walker, spurred on by his success in the last round, forced the pace early in the ninth but Scarff was able to turn the tide and edge it. Walker’s left eye was starting to swell shut and he needed something big to stop the Lonsdale belt from slipping away – and halfway into the 11th round he found it. Walker landed a big left followed by a right, and Scarff tumbled to the floor. He climbed to his feet but was visibly on shaky legs, and although the referee allowed him to continue, Walker saw his opportunity to finish the fight and jumped on Scarff.
He threw everything at his opponent and Scarff had no reply. The referee intervened, and stopped the contest at one minute and 20 seconds of the 11th round.
“I always knew I’d get here,” said Walker, post-fight. “I’ve done it the hard way, I did it the hard way tonight. We’ve never done anything easy. I found the shot, it wasn’t no fluke. If you win the British title you can go for world honors. I’m the British champion now, I’m the fucking king of Britain.”
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