Nicholas Walters v Alberto Garza

In the first of three world title fights in the US this weekend Jamaican Nicholas Walters (23-0, 19) made his first title defense as he took on Mexican Alberto Garza (25-6-1, 20) in a WBA Featherweight title bout.

Making his US debut Walters set out to make a statement and appeared to hurt Garza midway through the opening round. Whilst Garza did look limited it was great to see the positivity of a man looking to make a first impression.

Realising he was in deep Garza tried something new by fighting as a southpaw to start the second round. It worked well for a few moments before Walters took charge once again and showed why some regard this kid as one of the sports hidden gems.


Walters continued to pile up the rounds by taking the third with his jab. He did at times look reckless but had realised that Garza lacked the power to hurt him and merely walked through the shots when he had to in search for a bomb.

It took less than 2 minutes of round 4 for Walters to land a bomb. In fact several. The first, a very hard body shot, saw Garza drop to the canvas in agony. Unfortunately for Garza this was ruled an accidental low blow and Garza, as a result wasn't given a count. This meant Garza had to continue, thankfully for the Mexican he wasn't given too much more of a beating as a huge right hand layed him down and forced the referee to wave the contest off.

Although some may feel Chris John, the WBA "super" champion is the only real WBA champion it's fair to say that Walter is the truly entertaining WBA champion and a man who now has the world at his hands. He could face any of the other Top Rank guys at 126, including Evgeny Gradovich, Orlando Salido, Vasyl Lomachenko or even the winner of the Nonito Donaire/Vic Darchinyan contest (which takes place in just a few hours time).

Nicholas Walters v Daulis Prescott

Unbeaten Jamaican Nicholas Walters (22-0, 18) successfully claimed the WBA Featherweight title as he demolished Colombian Daulis Prescott (26-2, 19) in a fun but relatively 1-sided war.

The two men didn't take long to get to know each other and by the end of the opening round the stage was set for a war of attrition between to heavy handed fighters. Sadly for Prescott, the young brother of Breidis, it turned out that Walters was tougher and more powerful.

The power of the Jamaican was evident before the fight for all those who had actually watched him, admittedly that was few real boxing fans, though for those who hadn't seen him it was blatantly obvious from round 4, a round in which Prescott was sent to the canvas. Prescott would again visit the canvas in both rounds 5 and 7. Although the Colombian recovered to his feet after the knockdown early in round 7 referee Rafael Ramos waved the contest off.

For Walters this should have been his coming out party, sadly it appears to have slipped under the radar of most boxing fans who likely still think Celestino Caballero is the WBA Featherweight champion. Sadly the news from the US of the Manny Pacquiao v Juan Manuel Marquez fight will likely further hide this result, though hopefully Walters will be given a chance to make a name for himself in the US sooner, rather than later.