Nicholas Walters: Nothing To Gain in Beating Lomachenko!
Posted by: Edward Chaykovsky on 11/22/2014 .
By Edward Chaykovsky
WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21KOs) is now a hot name on the market, after last month's impressive knockout of highly regarded Nonito Donaire. Walters is promoted by Top Rank, who also have WBO champion Vasyl Lomachenko (2-1, 1KO) in their stable.
Lomachenko, who captured his world title earlier this year, won two Olympic gold medals and is regarded as one of the best amateur fighters in history. Lomachenko returns later tonight against mandatory challenger Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo as part of the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri undercard in Macau, China.
At this point, despite Lomachenko's fast accomplishments in the pro ranks, Walters doesn't see too much to gain in that fight.
"Listen, I have nothing against Lomachenko — he’s won Olympic medals and did well in the amateur game, but he has just three professional fights. If I’m supposed to fight Lomachenko and I beat Lomachenko, everybody’s gonna say, “Oh he beat the guy with four fights,” Walters said to
On The Ropes Boxing Radio .
"There’s nothing for me to gain out of beating a guy with three fights. He has more to gain from fighting me than I have to gain from fighting him. I’m the guy that knocked Nonito out and that’s never happened before and I did it."
The guy Walters would like to face is dangerous puncher Jhonny Gonzalez, who has the WBC's version of the title and the man who last year took out Abner Mares in one round.
"A fight with Johnny Gonzalez would definitely be a fight that I think the world would want to see because he has the Mexican crowd behind him, he definitely has a strong base right there and he said before the fight that he wanted to fight the winner. I want to unify all the belts, I want to own all the belts in featherweight, that’s my dream and that’s my aim," Walters said.
"Everybody’s gonna get their chance, I can guarantee that. The guy that doesn’t get a chance is the guy that doesn’t want to fight the ‘Axe Man.’ Apart from that, that’s a fight that I would definitely like, it’s an interesting fight. I would like to see how I would do against Johnny Gonzalez."
http://www.boxingscene.com/nicholas-walters-nothing-gain-beating-lomachenko--84548