Interview with Henry Walter London Middleweight Amateur Boxer

Interview with Henry Walter London Middleweight Amateur Boxer

By: Lee Harwood

Lee: Tell us about your amateur career, what weight you fight at and your record?

Henry: I had my 1st fight aged 19 for the Fitzroy Lodge in London. Mick Carney MBE was the head trainer then and was a towering figure with a real presence. Everyone tried hard to impress him and if he started watching the sparring everyone would step it up, Mick was a great trainer and a very kind man I have great memories of my time training at the Lodge! I box at middleweight but ive had a fight at light heavyweight and even a couple at heavyweight! my record is 10 wins and 7 losses however i do feel ive been pretty unlucky with decisions in the past with 5 out of the 7 defeats being by split decision and a couple were outright robberies in my opinion! it’s very frustrating when you feel you have won but don’t get the official decision

Lee: What made you take up boxing?

Henry: When I was a kid my mum used to tell me about being mesmerized watching Ali beat Henry Cooper on tv, She told me about Ali’s career and I always found it interesting. when I was a teenager I began researching Ali watching DVDs of his fights and documentaries I became a huge fan and made me want to box myself

Lee: Which boxers inspire you?

Henry: Quite a few, Muhammad Ali is still my biggest inspiration I still watch his fights especially from the 60s when he was at his peak! I love Roy Jones’s style and Sugar Ray Leonard is another boxer its impossible not to admire, more recently Lomachenko I love fast skilful boxers

Lee: What’s your happiest experience in boxing?

Henry: Two really stand out! when I won my 3rd fight it was on a Fitzroy Lodge show in London. I was representing the Lodges sister club Trenchard police against a boxer from the Northern Ireland police boxing team, my eye swelled badly in the last round and the fight nearly got stopped but I managed to get the win on points. Mick bought the whole team pizza afterwards and both teams ended up going to the pub together, the show was quite a big one and winning in front of a big crowd was a hell of a buzz! the other was a few years ago when Ian Wright was in the crowd at a show I boxed on and I managed to catch his eye and nod at him between rounds and he smiled and nodded back, afterwards I got to meet him and being an Arsenal fan it made it extra special

Lee: What do you feel about the current state of boxing?

Henry: Ah sadly there’s a fair bit wrong with the sport at the moment. It’s great to see the top British pros doing so well but lower down there’s a lot wrong. Small hall pro shows seem full of boxers with padded records beating journeymen that aren’t trying to win. Often young pros are not even paid enough and have to hold down a full-time job and have to try to make money selling tickets to their own fights. The scoring at Amateur shows leaves a lot to be desired and I even know boxers that have quit the sport after suffering bad decisions. There’s a lot of politics in it and the London Amateur clubs even split from the Amateur Boxing association for a while. The Olympic committee are considering not having Boxing at the Olympics in the future due to corruption which would be a real shame

Lee: What’s your favourite fight?

Henry: I have a few Ali vs Williams is one because Ali was unbeatable that night a real joy to watch. I love Lewis vs Rahman 2 and Leonard vs Hagler. Be to hard to pick just one

Lee: What’s the worst thing about preparing for a fight?

Henry: For me its making weight! I’ve always loved the training but I’ve always found it hard to control my diet, I really love my food so its horrible having to eat less and I even once lost a fight because I had sweated out over half a stone that morning to make-weight. too often I’ve dropped too much weight in the last few days which is never good

Lee: If you could make one fantasy fight what would it be?

Henry: 1966 Muhammad Ali vs 1988 Mike Tyson! Who wouldn’t pay to watch that?

Lee: For anyone reading this thinking of going to their local boxing gym, what advice would you give.

Henry: Boxing is a great sport for fitness its a great combination of cardio and explosive power. the training is very fun and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to get fit. For anyone looking to compete I would say take it seriously and give it your all. competitive boxing can be very rewarding but it is tough and does carry obvious risks. It’s not something you should participate in half heartedly

Lee: You have an evening with Buster Douglas, can you tell us about that?

Henry: Yea I’m really looking forward to that. the owner of the gym I train at, John Murphy, has organised for former Boxing great and Mike Tyson conqueror James Buster Douglas to come dow and meet the fans! The event is on the 4th of June from 7-10pm at Imber Court, Ember Lane, Surrey, KT8 0BT entry is £10 a rare chance to meet a boxing legend

Lee: Big thanks to Henry for the interview you can follow him on twitter @1henryw