On my card, Walker won Crocker classic

Walker (right) and Crocker embrace. Pic: Matchroom/ Mark Robinson

CONAH Walker gave every ounce of his Black Country pride and unquenchable boxing spirit last night. He spilt it all on the Resorts World Arena ring.

His right eye closed near shut, he waded through the bombs hurled by Lewis Crocker and hammered the tall Belfast KO artist’s long body.

It was, in the eyes of the three judges, not enough. When the dust had settled on a truly memorable 10 rounder – an epic war of attrition – the Wolverhampton “Wolf” had lost his WBA international welter title by unanimous decision.

I felt the 29-year-old deserved at least a share of the spoils and had him a round up at the end. Yes, he’d received warnings for straying his body shots south of the border, but the point deducted by referee Steve Gray in the ninth was, I believe, harsh.

And there were times – particularly in the final round – when Lewis looked near to buckling.

Mine was not an opinion shared by ringside colleagues and the verdict was greeted by only a smattering of boos from Walker’s army of fans – an old gold legion that chanted their hero’s name throughout the prelims.

Walker never stopped throwing leather. Crocker was more sparing with his shots, yet the ones that landed looked more spectacular.

I judged the war on work rate, not dramatic effect.

At the finish, there was clear daylight between the two men, in the judges’ eyes. Both Terry O’Connor and Leszek Jankowiak scored 96-93, Olena Pobyvailo had it much closer – 95-94.

Conah, however, emerged from the brutal battle with his reputation intact, perhaps even enhanced.

More barnstorming bouts await this bulldog of a boxer.

His trainer Richie Ghent said: “Conah has come out more of a winner than Crocker has. He has upped his stock unbelievably. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”

My assessment of the bout mirrored Ghent’s. “I had Conah two rounds up,” he said, “without the point deduction. I thought Conah out-dogged him. He took everything Crocker threw and came back with more.

The verdict. Pic: Matchroom/Mark Robinson

“I said in the corner, ‘you’ve just go to chop away at the tree and he’ll crack. You could see he cracked in the last. Conah told me that never once was he hurt, I thought he dealt with the shots well.

“We’d definitely take a re-match, but we’d want it over 12 rounds.”

The future remains very bright for Walker.

Ghent added: “We want to sit down with Eddie (Hearn) ask him what he thinks Conah can achieve and how he plans to achieve it.”

Walker played his part in one of the fights of the year and dragged Crocker, who had won all 19 of his previous contests, 11 by stoppage, to a dark place he had not been before.

Walker is a warrior from the top of his head to the soles of his boxing boots. He showed that.

Crocker (10st 6lbs 7oz) fired jabs through Walker’s guard and, at times, connected so solidly spray flew from his opponent’s head.

Conah took them and drove forward. He denied the hot prospect time to breathe, let alone load-up his famed punches.

Throughout, Crocker displayed a high guard, gloves cupped round his face, waiting for the moment to detonate.

He beckoned the local lad in, he smiled when tagged, but the theatricals didn’t mask the simple truth he had been pulled into the trenches.

Walker (10st 6lbs 5oz) was a buzzsaw who began letting his punches go in the second, he worked Crocker’s body like a lumberjack hacking down a mighty redwood.

He was warned to keep his punches up in the fourth and Crocker gave him an old fashioned look after being caught below the beltline at the bell to end the fifth.

The swelling on Conah’s eye in the sixth signalled a turning of the tide. Crocker kept snapping out that ramrod jab and steadied Walker with a heavy left and right.

Walker, however, refused to give ground and connected with a right uppercut in the seventh. Crocker made him pay with a right of his own.

Such was the ebb and flow action: when either man was tagged, they looked for an instant response.

Walker upped his incredible work rate in the eighth, wading in despite being caught by stinging shots.

He was steadied by a left hook in the ninth and his cause further hampered by that point deduction.

Both slugged it out in a frantic final round, Crocker sealing his work with three hard head shots, but he looked the one feeling the pace. He couldn’t match his tormentor’s energy.

They had served up a sensational battle. The fight experts felt could not go the distance went to a points decision. The fact it did is testament to both men’s fighting heart.