Heavyweight Travis Walker, originally from Tallahassee, Florida, but now living and training in Houston, Texas, staked his claim last Friday night in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on ShoBox, for moving his status from hot prospect, to legitimate contender with his 2nd consecutive victory over a fellow undefeated prospect.  Walker, with only 6 years experience boxing, is still honing his craft with each fight and each training session.  Last November, he defeated his amateur nemesis and U.S. Olympic team representative, Jason Estrada over eight rounds, and in his most recent contest, defeated Olympic team alternate George Garcia, taking from each, their undefeated mark, while improving to 23-0-1 with 17 knockouts.  BoxingTalk.com’s Mike Campbell caught up with Travis to discuss his recent successes and future plans.


BT: Congratulations Travis on your two recent big victories over George Garcia and Jason Estrada.  Grade your performance versus Garcia and what things did you find that you want to improve upon?

TW: I think I did better versus Garcia than versus Estrada.  I’d give myself about a B-.  It was a tough fight for me, his style made me fight different than I wanted to.  I wanted to make him fight my fight, but I ended up fighting his fight.  My jabs still aren’t what I want them to be.  I need to work on that and my defense too.


BT: In both fights, you fought awkward guys who controlled the type of fight, taking you out of your game plan, yet both times you won rounds and came out victorious.

TW: It shows I’m willing to push myself to that next level to win a fight.  I’m just not willing to lose.  Some guys can’t do that, or won’t.  I think it showed my heart and determination.


BT: The punch you dropped Garcia with was one of the best body shots I’ve seen.

TW: It was perfect, but the problem was I didn’t get proper credit for it.  That shot should have resulted in a stoppage.  Go back and watch it, he got about 15-18 seconds to get up.


BT: How did you feel when you landed that punch?

TW: It felt really good.  I knew I was going to stop him with to the body, because he’s got such a hard head.  But the thing is, almost every time I went to the body, the referee was calling it illegal.  That’s one of the things that took me out of my game plan.  You couldn’t hear it, but he kept telling me I was hitting too low.  I hit him low one time, which was an accident, that’s it.  And he took a point from me for a low blow, when actually Garcia’s belt was up above his belly button!


BT: You’re still undefeated as a professional.  Both of these guys defeated you in the amateurs.  So, you have sort of avenged blemishes with these fights. How does that feel?

TW: Oh man, it feels so good.  One of the first things, when I turned pro, was tell my manager, get me Estrada, get me Garcia.  Because I felt robbed, I wanted to represent America, but they denied me that.  So I wanted the chance to prove that I could beat those guys.  For three years I’ve had that in my head, so this feels VERY good.


BT: Your stable mate, Rafael Butler, had a tough outing in the fight before yours.  Did you get to see much of it, and tell us your thoughts about it.

TW: Yeah, I did get to see it on the monitor in the dressing room.  Oh man..  Umm…  I mean..  I don’t know what to say really, I feel real bad for Rafael..   I don’t know, man, I just feel real bad for what happened in that fight.


BT: Now you’ve knocked off two top prospects, where do you go from here, what do you need to do to get yourself a title fight?

TW: I’ve got a lot of things to work on.  After the Estrada fight I had told myself I needed to go back and work on some things before taking another step up fights, so this time I think I will.  I’m going to keep working on those things and take a few stay busy fights.  You know I’ve only been boxing for six years, three as an amateur and now three as a pro.  I think I’ve still got a lot of improving to do to compete with guys that are on my same level.  Guys like Estrada and Garcia have been boxing for like fifteen years.  So I’m going to take it slow and keep learning so I can reach my full potential.


BT: Thanks Travis, it’s been a pleasure talking with you again and we look forward to following the rest of your career.