Unbeaten super-lightweight Jonathan Walsh ready to return from lockdown stronger than ever

Jonathan Walsh has been strength training during lockdown

24-year-old super-lightweight talent Jonathan Walsh (4-0, 1KOs), trained by Paul Stevenson at the Everton Red Triangle Gym, has swapped his boxing gloves for heavy weights.

Whilst ‘Jof’ isn’t able to pound the heavy bags in the gym, he’s lifting up heavy pounds at his Liverpool home instead.

The unbeaten pro has thrown himself into strength training whilst the boxing gyms are inaccessible due to the spread of coronavirus.

The 140-pounder said, “I have just been concentrating on my strength work, so I’ve been quite motivated, but not been thinking about boxing too much. I managed to get hold of a couple of weights, actually got around 150 kilos of weights in the garden, got a bench press, a squat rack; so given myself a different goal to aim for.

“I’ve still been doing roadwork as well, about twice per week, just trying to keep my weight down. I’m 10st 8/9lbs at the moment, but still quite lean, so when I come back down to 10st, I’m going to be a lot stronger.”

The Haringey Box Cup champion has raced to 4-0 as a pro within 12 months between his debut in March 2019 and his last fight in February this year.

‘Jof’ floored Paul Dulcie on his pro bow to win 40-35 on points; then followed that with another shutout points win against Carl Turney, again over four rounds; then he scored a second-round stoppage over 145-fight veteran Youssef Al Hamidi, becoming just the fourth boxer to halt the durable Syrian from Yorkshire.

In his last assignment, he was given a tough test against the talented Chris Adaway, who has a knack for upsetting home fighters – as an amateur he won seven Western Counties titles and represented England. Walsh had to dig deep to outpoint the adept Devonian 39-38 on the scorecards.

“Yeah, it was a good learning fight, he brought me down a level, because I know I’m 10 times better than that,” he said of his last fight at the Grand Central Hall in Liverpool on February 28. “He brought me in to his game, he was awkward as well, he’s a live opponent.”

The Liverpool-based Everton Red Triangle Gym always schedule their events for the year ahead and had four more dates secured for 2020, which have now been either missed or written off for the foreseeable future.

“I wanted to carry that momentum on, I had five fights scheduled this year but obviously the coronavirus has stopped that now and I don’t know how long the break is going to be,” Walsh said.

The British Boxing Board of Control have ruled that a maximum of five fights only will be permitted to take place on future events for safety reasons when live boxing returns.

“There’s only five fights allowed on the shows now, so let’s say we have 10 boxers per show and, say, five events per year, that’s not many getting to fight,” Walsh explained. “So, it’s only going to be the elite fighters that get on the big shows for now.”

The youngster is not allowing himself to grow impatient while his career is put on hold, however, “Obviously, I do want to box again, but the realistic side is that it won’t be this year, or maybe late this year.

“I want to get back to where I left off, but I haven’t been frustrated at all, because it is what it is, you can’t obsess over something that you cannot change, so I just set myself new goals with the strength training and I’ll go back a lot stronger.”

Three of Walsh’s teammates – Nick Ball, Brad Strand, Andrew Cain – recently signed contracts with Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren earlier this year, which is testament to the hard work that Everton Red Triangle head coach Paul Stevenson has been putting in for years.

Jonathan commented, “I can speak for everyone in the gym and say that it’s given everyone a little boost. It’s a foot in the door now and I think it’s given us all a little extra motivation.”

Walsh’s gym, where he plies his trade, is celebrating its centenary this year. 24-year-old European champion and Commonwealth gold medalist Peter McGrail also trains there and just recently qualified for the Olympics before COVID-19 brought all sports events to a halt. Former British, Commonwealth and European flyweight champion remains the biggest success story of ERT so far, but the current crop of unbeaten professionals are primed for greatness.

“The only reason we’re not in the limelight is because we haven’t had the publicity yet, but I genuinely feel that we’re one of the best gyms in the country, and Nick [Ball, 12-0 featherweight] will be the first one to put us on the scene, I believe,” he reasoned.

Trainer Paul Stevenson’s group of unbeaten professionals possess over 30 wins between the seven of them so far.

“I’ve worked with some good coaches, but just the way Paul [Stevenson] explains things to you and how he gets things across. Some days we will go in and just work on one shot or one combination alone for an hour. Paul drills stuff into you; we can spend a full hour just shadow boxing.”

Everton Red Triangle Gym, in association with Black Flash Promotions, have the remaining planned dates for their shows as September 5 and November 14. Details whether these will go ahead as planned will be announced in due course.

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