WBA Super World featherweight champion, Nicholas ‘Axeman’ Walters is now 25-0 with 21 knockouts and coming off his most impressive display to date. A sixth-round TKO victory over former four-weight world champion Nonito Donaire in October 2014. Walters hails from Jamaica, an island celebrated around the world over for its culture; however, lacking when it comes to producing elite-level prizefighters.
Jamaica’s heavyweight Trevor Berbick was on the boxing scene in the late eighties and has the scornful distinction of being Muhammad Ali’s last opponent. Multiple-weight contender Glen Johnson plied his trade around the super-middleweight region a decade or so later, eventually earning a memorable knockout over a somewhat diminished Roy Jones Jr in 2004. The pick of the litter, as far as Jamaican fighters are concerned, is most certainly ‘The Body Snatcher’ Mike McCallum, a former junior middleweight, middleweight and light-heavyweight champion of the world. McCallum is named by The Ring magazine as the second-greatest junior-middleweight of all time, according to Boxrec.com.
So you would think that the tiny nation would herald the coming of a newer name in the ring, such as Walters, but as explained in an article published in jamaicaobserver.com by Anika Richards. Walters has been forced to the courts to look for sponsorship. In the following words, Walter reaches out to the folks he thinks can help him financially:
“For my next fight I would love to know that I am going out there, not only with brand Jamaica, but with sponsors to say the country is pushing me. I would definitely want the sponsors to really come out and give me that push. I would really like for Jamaica to come out and support me.”
I’m not sure whether Walters needs financial support in order to sustain his training and travel or whether he is looking to step up his training venture in some way. Until his recent victory in the US, he fought mainly out of Panama as a pro, following a respectable, if somewhat undistinguished amateur career.
If he is to continue his rapid ascension in the boxing realm, he may be in need of extra funds to facilitate that journey. Renting facilities and accommodation, hiring good sparring partners and maybe even getting a nutritionist and chef in the camp all cost money. Every little thing helps in boxing, and Walters will certainly be faced with bigger and better competition after his most recent victory.
Whoever, in Jamaica or otherwise has the type of capital he is looking for, would be wise to share or sponsor. Walters is a bad, bad man in that ring. He is one who has the potential to rip through the featherweight division, including the Ukranian phenom Vasyl Lomachenko. A proud Jamaican, who always dons his country’s flag on his shorts as he steps through the ropes, is marketable and full of possibilities. Let us hope the champ get the funds he is requesting to continue his journey in our beloved sport.
