In the past year or so Conah Walker, or “The Wolf” as he is known, has worked up quite an appetite. Accustomed now to winning, he finds himself entering 2026 both satisfied and hungry for more – a dangerous combination.
“I probably enjoyed it a little too much in all honesty,” he said of his Christmas. “I was eating everything in sight and am paying for it now. I’ve been in camp [during Christmas] for the last four years really – fighting in either January, February or March – so I haven’t had a Christmas dinner or even been able to celebrate Christmas until last year. I sort of let myself go a bit to make up for it.”
This Christmas was a little bit different for Conah Walker and not just because he was spared having to diet or train throughout it. It was different, too, because he was different. He felt different. He sounded different. He carried himself in a different way. He was also seen by others in a different way, all due to his recent run of form and his 12th-round stoppage of former amateur star Pat McCormack in December.
That win only confirmed what Walker already knew, of course, but for others it was an eye-opening result and performance. There was even talk of a world-title shot in 2026, with Lewis Crocker, the IBF welterweight titleholder, open to the idea of a voluntary defence. That’s how Walker was being viewed come Christmastime: as a future world-title challenger. But that hasn’t always been the case.
“I was selling tickets on small-hall shows,” he said, remembering his start in the pro game. “It’s only in the last three or four fights that I’ve been the A-side. I’ve always been the B-side in the past; in the away corner, drafted in to get beaten. But I would have that belief in myself and I’d usually find a way to beat them. I’m hoping now that the promoters recognise that and realise I’m not just a brawler. There’s a little bit more to me.
“I’ve always taken on any challenge that has been presented to me from the start of my career. I fought an undefeated fighter in my fifth fight and an undefeated fighter in my sixth fight. I then went on to fight for the Midlands [title] in my 10th fight. I’ve always fought proper fighters and people who come to win and it’s paying off now.
“I’ve found out what my strengths are, I’ve found out what I’m good at and I’m just playing my role. I’m not doing anything too fancy. I’m not showboating or bouncing around the ring. I’m just a hard man with a few skills and good basics. I’ve worked very hard over the years on boxing and have studied the game. It’s just all coming together now.
“Hopefully I can be an example to the youth coming through. Hopefully I’ve shown them that a loss doesn’t define you. So long as you give a good account of yourself and it’s nip and tuck, they’re going to have you back because you’ve shown that you’re at that level. Pro boxing is pro boxing. I always think people are too worried about their zero. Who gives a fuck? It’s only over when you say it’s over.”
Although never a journeyman, or anything close to that, Walker is right: He was, for a time, considered an opponent. He was a good one, make no mistake, but an opponent all the same. Defeats by Lewis Crocker, Kane Gardner and Samuel Antwi would act as evidence of this, regardless of how competitive Walker may have been on the night.
The last of those defeats – against Crocker in June 2024 – proved to be something of a turning point for Walker. Even though he gave a good account of himself against the Irishman, and believed he deserved to win, the defeat stung more than most. It stung, perhaps, because Walker knew he was improving and that all he needed now was for results to start reflecting these improvements.
“Losing is horrible,” he said. “I’m a winner. I love winning. I’ve always been in competition my whole life. I’ve played high-level rugby and I box for a living. But losing is just part of it. It’s not nice but you’ve got to deal with it – we all do. It’s then about how you deal with the loss. I always just try to look at where I have gone wrong and become a better me and a better fighter. The day you stop learning is probably the day you should hang up your gloves.”
After losing to Crocker, Walker dusted himself down again and got back in the win column. He did so with a decision win over Lewis Ritson, which he then followed with a British and Commonwealth title fight against Harry Scarff in January 2025. Three years prior to that Walker had lost an English welterweight title fight, but this time was different. He was different. This time he dominated Scarff, the favourite, and stopped him in 11 rounds.
“That was the best night of my career,” said the man from Wolverhampton. “I set out to win a British title when I started boxing and to make that a reality was an indescribable feeling. I can’t even put my finger on it or put it into words. If I could bottle it and sell it, I’d be a millionaire. It was a next-level feeling.”
Such is the power of the British title, that win over Scarff remains Walker’s favourite moment in his career to date. Yet the most important moment, in terms of both his reputation and future opportunities, could very well be his last fight: a final-round stoppage of Pat McCormack in Monte Carlo. After all, it was only after Walker had managed to upset McCormack that the boxing world started to sit up and acknowledge his progress.
“I visualized it and knew I was going to win,” he said, one month on. “I imagined how it would go night after night; I was that confident. No man could beat me that night. I was eager to shut the doubters up and prove to Eddie Hearn, Matchroom and the world that I’m not just there to make up the numbers. I can fight these guys and beat them.
“I stuck to the game plan and was patient. With his limited experience in the pros, I just had to slow down, bide my time, and I knew I’d get to him. I was out-jabbing an Olympic silver medallist and outboxing him in parts.
“As soon as he came and tried to have it out with me, I knew I had him. It was just a slow beatdown from that point on. It took longer than I expected, to be honest. He’s a tough man and a fit man – fair play to him. He’ll come back and I’m pretty sure he’ll do big things in boxing. But it was just my time.”
McCormack, having only his ninth pro fight, may have bitten off more than he could chew in the end. But that doesn’t mean Walker, the victor, had the deck stacked in his favour, nor that experience was everything.
“I don’t want to put it down to just experience,” Walker, now 17-3-1 (8 KOs), said. “I felt like I was the better boxer on the night. I don’t want to say, ‘He had limited experience as a pro and that’s why I beat him, because he took the fight too soon.’ I was waiting for everyone else to say that after the fight, so you won’t hear it from me. I know why I beat him and I’d like other people to recognise that I was just the better boxer.”
Keen to collect more experience, and victories, Walker hopes to kick off his 2026 with a fight in either March or April. Ideally, that fight will take place in Manchester, where he currently trains, and will be a headline fight against an opponent capable of pushing Walker a step closer to a world-title shot later in the year.
Were it not for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) ordering Lewis Crocker, their welterweight titlist, to face his mandatory challenger, Liam Paro, in his next fight, Walker might have had a world-title shot already. For a brief period, in fact, he believed that Matchroom’s desire to make Crocker vs Walker would ensure that it happened – only for the IBF to then rain on their parade at the start of January.
“On January 2, 2026, IBF received a letter from [Matchroom] on behalf of Champion Lewis Crocker to participate in an optional defense [against Walker] … on April 18 or April 25 in Belfast,” IBF president Daryl Peoples stated in a ruling. “The proposed April dates are thirty-six (36) and forty-three (43) days, respectively, past the champion’s March 13 mandatory due date.
“On January 7, 2026, the IBF received a letter from [No Limit Boxing’s] Matt Rose on behalf of Liam Paro opposing the granting of the exception. [Also on] January 7, the IBF Directors participated in a video conference to determine whether Mr. Crocker’s exception request should be granted or denied. … [T]he majority of the directors determined that Lewis Crocker’s exception should be denied.”
Although somewhat disappointed, Walker remains refreshingly philosophical about the missed opportunity.
“I was close with the Crocker thing,” he said. “They put me in for a voluntary defence but he just got the timing wrong with the IBF rules. He went past the 60-day rule, which meant he had to then fight Paro, his mandatory. So it was nearly there, but not quite.
“I’d now like a home show; one I can headline. Then hopefully after that we can make something happen in terms of a world-title shot. But boxing’s a game of luck, isn’t it?”
Indeed it is. World title opportunities often require a slice of luck in the getting of them and so too does the winning of fights: the luck of the draw, the lucky punch, the lucky decision. All variations of luck tend to play a part in a boxer’s career and Walker, for so long a hard-luck man, feels he is now owed his.
“I’m happy to fight any of the world champions, but the Crocker fight is definitely one I want because I want to right the wrong,” he said. “I believe I beat him the first time, but I don’t want to sound like a sore loser. He got the nod and that’s it. But I’d like to rerun that and I think it would be massive for boxing. He’s got a massive following in Belfast and I’ve got massive support in Wolverhampton.
“Since our fight, he’s had two fights against Paddy Donovan, and arguably he lost them both, in my opinion. I’ve had four fights against four brilliant fighters, all with different styles. I fought Harry Scarff, Lewis Ritson, Liam Taylor, and Pat McCormack. They are four top-level fighters and I’ve come out victorious against them all. He’s had two fights, both against the same opponent, with a lot of time in between. I definitely believe I have levelled up.”
That’s the thing about eating well. Though it tastes good and momentarily fills a hole, eating well often leads to a person wanting more and more. Some, if desperate enough, will show you their hands and say please; perhaps even beg. But not Conah Walker. He is now working on getting more the hard way – the only way he knows how. He requires no handouts.
Elliot Worsell is a boxing writer whose byline first appeared in Boxing News magazine at the age of 17. He has, in the 20 years since, written for various publications, worked as press officer for two world heavyweight champions and won four first-place BWAA (Boxing Writers Association of America) awards. In addition to his boxing writing, Worsell has written about mixed martial arts for Fighters Only magazine and UFC.com, as well as worked as a publicist for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He has also written two non-fiction books, one of which, “Dog Rounds,” was shortlisted at the British Sports Book Awards in 2018.
