Q & A: "JUNGLEBOY" ZACH WALTERS
By: Ramon Hough

More than one week ago, "Jungleboy" Zach Walters successfully defended his Minnesota light-heavyweight title against Boyd "Peek-a-Boo" Davis at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) in Duluth, Minnesota. With the unanimous decision win, the 24-year-old Walters improved his record to 13-1, 10 KO's. We caught up with Walters between his classes at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and training with Buddy McGirt and Chuck "Sharky" Horton. Here is what he had to say about the Davis fight, his critics and what might be on tap for him in the near future:

If I remember correctly, you're getting close to finishing school at UMD. Can you talk about your schooling and how it fits in with your boxing career?
Walters: No, I'm not done with school yet. One semester to go. I study psychology. Once I'm done with school I'll go for boxing 100% and pay off my school loans. Then I'll go back to school and get a master's degree. The window for making a life-sustaining amount of money in boxing is small.

In your last fight in Duluth, there seemed to be a buzz in the Duluth air leading up to it. In addition, you had more than 3,000 people at the DECC. What kind of a buzz was there leading up to this fight? What was the crowd like?
Walters: Yeah, there was a huge buzz around Duluth and the Twin Ports area. I'd be driving my Promo-KIA around town and people would stop me to wish me luck or have me autograph a poster or ticket. I never knew so many people knew who I was. The crowd at the DECC was great! They packed into the auditorium and made for a crazy mess of an audience. It was great coming out and having the people go wild. It's been a goal of mine since I turned pro to have fights at the DECC on a regular basis. A lot of prayers have been answered.

You suffered a bad cut when you fought Jesse "Iron Jaw" Sanders at the DECC three fights ago. Can you talk about the cut, how it's affected you and if it's still a concern?
Walters: The cut isn't a concern for me now that it's healed up. Of course, I never want it to happen again, but I didn't think of it too much during this fight. I just accepted that if it were to open up, I'd make adjustments from there. (Getting) a bad cut in the Sanders fight helped me to be more aware about moving my head and fight in my natural range. I have a strong inside game, but it's more dangerous for me to fight (inside) because of head butts. (Trainer) Buddy (McGirt) and I worked a lot on head movement and keeping my range. I was confident I could pull off a safe win.

You took on 37-year-old Boyd "Peek-a-boo" Davis. After the loss, his record fell to 10-7 and he's now lost three of his last four fights. Your last opponent was 2-8 at the time. This is not intended to disrespect Mr. Davis as a fighter, but some people would say you took a step-back in competition when you should have taken a step up in competition. Why did you fight Boyd Davis and now that it's over, what are your thoughts on him?
Walters: Yes, Davis didn't have an embellished record or the ranking like someone the critics would like me to face, but I tell you what, Boyd can fight. My team gave Boyd's camp over a month to prepare for the fight. He told me to be ready at the weigh-in and when the bell rang, he fought to win.
The big reason we looked at fighting Davis (was) because we wanted to defend the state title. I have to fight once a year on behalf of the title to keep it alive. That was the initial agreement I made when I won it and I'm a man of my word. I watched Davis fight Jason Aaker in Fargo and get a bad decision. I saw then that he had skills and the fight became interesting to me. My thoughts on Boyd Davis, now that the fight is over: I thought I hurt him several times throughout the fight, but he clinched a lot and that made it hard to finish him. He tried a few dirty moves, but I don't fault him for that. Davis had good head movement and it was hard to hit him with solid shots consistently. I think that's a big reason I couldn't take him out. The body attack paid off the most for me.

I've heard rumors that you might be stepping it up in your next fight. Now that you've gotten past Davis, what should we expect to see out of you in the near future? What are Buddy and Sharky saying?
Walters: Of course I want to step it up. It's my goal to shoot for a world title. As long as I am boxing my goal is to win a world title. Pursuing anything else would be cutting my self short. Getting a TV fight is an option. Fighting out of state is another. The commission problem is an issue.
My next fight is up in the air right now. For a step up fight, there are a lot of options and I can't always fight who I want. Sounds like some people think fighting Kenny Kost at 168 would be a good thing. I think I can make the weight, we'll see. Fighting Kost isn't exactly a step up though and my team may want something else.
As for what Sharky and Buddy want? Sharky agrees that I should take a step up and increase my popularity in the sport. Buddy is my trainer and he just wants to make it to my next fight, he said after Tarver he doesn't have any big fights so he hopes to make it.

It seems like there are boxing fans that are impossible to please and often get insulting and disrespectful. What are your thoughts on that?
Walters: It really gets to me sometimes when I see the way they attack a certain fighter or show. It seems like we all want the same thing: good fights and strong fighters in our state. But it gets hard to do that when they're overly critical of those that are involved in the boxing business. It is one thing to be a critic and another to be disrespectful. I know that people are free to say what they want and there is no way to satisfy everyone. Insulting fighters is no way to help the sport in Minnesota.

Anything you'd like to add?
Walters: I want the thank The Lord for giving me the talent to box. I really believe it is God's plan for me to fight. I am truly blessed. I want to thank the event sponsors for backing the show: KIA of Duluth and Fond-Du-Luth Casino. It was a lot of fun to receive support from them and they're great to deal with. They hope to help with another show sometime and were happy with the way this went.
I want to thank the fans that came to the show. There were a lot of people that drove from all over the sate. The local support is great too. Duluth is back on the map!
Thanks and God bless.