Ryan Walsh is one of four men remaining in the Golden Contract featherweight tournament, and he’s made his thoughts perfectly clear on his rivals. The featherweight semi-finals, along with the junior welterweight semi-finals take place on a bumper night at London's York Hall on February 21st, live on Sky Sports in association with Matchroom Boxing and ESPN+ in association with Top Rank. The remaining featherweights are Walsh, Leigh Wood, Tyrone McCullagh and Jazza Dickens, while the junior welterweight line-up features Ohara Davies, Tyrone McKenna, Mohamed Mimoune and Jeff Ofori.

 

British champion Walsh (25-2-2, 12 KOs) overcame previously unbeaten Hairon Socarras in his quarter-final, and with one tricky opponent out of the way, the Norfolk boxer is expecting another difficult encounter. He said: “It’s a very good and competitive lineup in the tournament, and I’m pretty sure all of the favourites won their quarter-final fights. All three of them are tough in different ways.

 

“Not one of them will be a easy win fight, especially as I expect them all to improve on their previous performances too, but I’m confident.

 

“I’m really excited for the semi-finals. I’m a big fan of this new concept and it’s great for British boxing. It’s been very good to know from the start when the semi-finals would be, so it’s been a very professional set-up by MTK Global and they have my utmost respect.

 

“I was happy with my performance in the quarter-final, and the one time I’ve watched it back it’s clear for all to see how well I boxed.”