By Joe Harrison
On Friday night, undefeated middleweight Michael “Midnight Stalker” Walker (17-0-1, 11 KOs) scored a 3rd-round TKO over William Johnson (9-15-1, 3 KOs) in a scheduled six-round contest at “United We Stand” presented by One In A Million Inc. at the Radison-Star Plaza in Merrillville, Indiana. It was a competitive bout as both men did everything they could to gain the upper hand, but Walker was simply too much for Johnson.
From the beginning of the first round, Walker was on the attack pounding punches against Johnson’s body and face. Johnson was game as well using his effective counter-punches to keep the fight from being a one-sided beating. Even as Johnson fought back, Walker never gave him a second to breathe.
In the second round, Walker continued to attack Johnson, landing multiple power punches to the body of Johnson. On the other hand, Johnson was landing punches of his own regularly, trying to keep Walker off of him. Walker continued to attack Johnson’s body as he attempted to create openings for punches to the top.
Right at the beginning of the third round, an overhand right from Walker connected with Johnson’s face and sent him to the canvas. Johnson was able to beat the count and continue, but Walker was back on the attack. With Johnson trapped in the corner, another overhand right from Walker put Johnson right back down. The fight was waived off at 0:23 of the third round and Walker remained undefeated. Although it was revealed that Johnson had injured his ankle during the 2nd knockdown, a victory for Walker was clearly inevitable.
After the bout, Walker spoke about his match with Johnson.
“I tried to knock him out early, but I had to wait, I knew I’d catch him sooner or later,” said Walker. “I caught him, he didn’t see it coming.”
“To all those other fighters, I’m coming.”
On the undercard, welterweight Ed Ochoa made his pro debut by scoring a 4th-round TKO over Michael Davis (0-4) in a four-round contest. The fight started off with both men establishing their jabs and sizing each other up. Eventually, Ochoa gained control by using his strong jab to set up other punches.
Ochoa staggered Davis in the third round with a straight right and Davis spent the rest of the round clinching and running. Ochoa went after him and tried to put Davis away, but Davis just wanted to hold him. At the start of the fourth round, Ochoa tagged Davis with an overhand right that sent him against the ropes. Ochoa went in for the kill but the fight was waived of at the official time of 0:57.
Later, Ochoa shared his thoughts on his first professional bout.
“I felt pretty good,” said Ochoa. “I got off a little slow, but I felt really good in front of my fans here.”
“I hurt my right hand in training, so I got used to my left jab. It felt real good.”
Also on the undercard, light heavyweight Jimmy Perez Jr. made his professional debut by getting a unanimous decision over Brandon Burke (0-4) in a four-round contest. In the first round, Burke was very aggressive and connected many punches to the face of Perez. Then, in the second round, Perez began to land his punches and Burke continuously shook his head no.
In the third and fourth rounds, Burke occasionally went back on the attack, but spent more time shaking his head no whenever Perez landed his punches. In the end, Perez was the more active boxer and earned the same score from all three judges, 39-37.
Afterward, Perez explained his thoughts on the fight and showed a lot of respect for his opponent.
“In that first round, Burke showed that he was a versatile fighter,” said Perez. “After that first round, I just went after him. He was a tough fighter, very strong. I wanted to knock him out, but he had a lot of heart.”
Middleweight prospect Louis Turner (11-0, 7 KOs) was also in attendance, and he spoke of his upcoming bout against Angel Hernandez (27-6, 16 KOs) on the undercard of Juan Diaz vs Julio Diaz at the Sears Centre near Chicago, Illinois on October 13th.
“My training’s going pretty good,” said Turner. “I think Hernandez will be a tough opponent. I feel that I’m still improving and I’m learning things every day. I’m a hard worker. I take boxing very seriously.”
“In the future, I do envision myself fighting for the championship. All they got to do is sign the contract.”
