LIAM Davies made a positive start to his new chapter at featherweight, outboxing and outfighting previously unbeaten Kurt Walker over the championship distance. The new IBF Intercontinental featherweight champion prevailed by scores of 116-112 (Ammar Sakraoui), 117-111 (Bob Williams) and 115-113 (Mikael Hook).
There was slight confusion over the appointed judges, as Luigi Boscarelli was initially announced as an official. Regardless of who was scoring it, the right man got the decision. Davies threw a total of 896 punches across the 36 minutes of action.
It was an early battle of the jabs between a former British and European champion in Davies and a seasoned amateur and Olympian in Walker. The Lisburn man was dabbing away at his nose in the second round as he ducked and dipped for openings.
Walker motored forward in the fourth, trying to find the kind of dig that has been missing so far in his career. Davies used his long levers to touch the body. He was comfortable moving upstairs and down in the fifth as Walker tried to get a bit of bounce going in the legs.
Veteran referee Steve Gray kept a keen eye on matters as heads threatened to clash in the sixth. Davies showed immense patience while Walker seemed to be stepping off and letting too many rounds slip by. When Walker let his hands go, he was able to land.
The Northern Irishman finally bit down on the gumshield and pushed Davies back. If he was going down in Nottingham, Walker was going down swinging as Davies stood off and weathered the gathering storm to slide home by unanimous decision.
Liam Davies improved to 17-1 (8 KOs) as the rebuilding process begins after a damaging defeat to Shabaz Masoud late last year.
Kurt Walker lost for the first time in his career, falling to 12-1 (2 KOs). Davies’ win was correctly described as a “professional performance” by DAZN analyst Barry Jones.
