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Walters Ready to Return!
By Jesse Kelley

Jungle Boy Zach Walters will be back in action this Saturday February 24th in Superior, Wisc. Walters will be fighting for the first time since his ko loss to veteran Hugo Pineda back in November at the Target Center. Always a student of the game, Walters believes that he has learned from the set back and hopes that some new changes to his style will help prepare him for the next level of competition in the future. I visited Walters in Duluth a few weeks ago to discuss the fight with Pineda and what he has on the horizon. Here is what Walters had to say...

Can you share your thoughts on your fight with Hugo Pineda?
The first 2 rounds were the hardest for me, because I was sticking to my game plan. That was to put the pressure on him early. Not necessarily to try to win the rounds, but to try to put the pressure on him and make him tired. My goal was to push him the early rounds and get more strategic the later rounds and start to take over. When the rounds got cut from 8 down to 6, there was a little more urgency to try to win those early rounds. So, I was going to try to put the pressure on him and also try to land shots. So, what happened was, I lost those first couple rounds, and started to get desperate. I started to realize that the pressure stuff wasn't working so I started making adjustments. I felt the first 2 rounds I lost for sure. The 2nd two rounds, I felt the judges might have given me, I'm not sure, I never saw the cards. The 5th round was going the way I thought it should have been going as far as him backing up against the ropes. I started to sense he was tiring out. But hey, he's a vet and picked his shot just right and got me. I have to give him credit for that.

How did the round change from 8 to 6 affect you?
I didn't know what it was going to be until in the dressing room the day of. This whole round change situation came up at the weigh ins when they looked at their contract. They had signed a contract but scratched out the rounds and wrote a 6 and sent it back and said there's the deal we'll do. I got my contract, mine said 8. I said wonderful, I have an 8 round game plan. I signed it and sent it back. At the weigh-ins this conflict came up. They came up to Chuck and said we've got a conflict here, let's get this resolved. It was 6, it was 8. It just kind of put everything up in the air. It was a Distraction. I don't want to find excuses but I was thinking a lot about what was going on.

You mentioned making adjustments as the fight progressed. What kind of adjustments were you trying to make as the fight went on?
The adjustments I was starting to make were not just to pressure him and barrel in and throw caution to the wind. I started to be a lot more cautious and picky with my shots I was throwing. I was boxing him more than fighting him. I felt it was working.

In the 5th round, he caught you with a great punch….
(Zach breaks in) Two great punches man, ba-BOOM! (laughing)

Ok, 2 great punches.. so what are your thoughts on what happened?
I jumped up out of embarrassment I guess. It was a big opportunity for me. I wanted to make a statement on a big card, by taking a tough opponent in front of a huge crowd. I was looking at it as a golden opportunity. I also knew I was rolling the dice on his experience.

Did you agree with the stoppage?
I was messed up. I got nailed. I jumped up quick out of embarrassment because of the caliber of the opportunity. I can't argue with it. The ref's job is to stop the fight. It's my job to keep fighting even if I can't. If I have to I have to do it. I know that I can get up and recover from knockdowns. I did it in April against Muller, I had a real rough first round there and came back and knocked him out two rounds later. Over in Washington, Louis Lopez knocked me down and I came back and knocked him out the following round. Could I have done it with Pineda? I don't know, I'll never get to know. I'm not going to fault the ref. Mark Nelson has ref'd my fights in the amateurs, he's ref'd them in the pros. He's one of the most respected ref's in the business. I'm not going to argue with the stoppage.

Can you talk about how losing like that affected you? Also, as far as adding things to your game, would you like to talk about those things?
I want people to wait to see the changes I've made, but it opened my eyes to the level of competition I was stepping into. At the time I was working full time and boxing part time. At the level of fighting I'm getting into, I have to box full time if I want to stay safe first of all, but also if I want to continue winning. Ultimately my goal, like probably every other boxer out there is to be a world champ. I have not lost sight of that goal. This fight has made me persevere. I didn't like it at all. I was humbled. It opened my eyes to looking at other things and trying out new stuff. I was getting comfortable in the way I was boxing. I haven't made too many changes between fights. I try to cater my style to beat every opponent I face but I haven't made any big changes in the way I was boxing. It definitely pushed me to make those changes and it opened my eyes up to other possibilities. Like fighting backing up. It's something I don't like to do. Because of this fight, I said well if I had made him come at me… He told me back in the dressing room that he focused the whole time on counter punches cause he heard I was a pressure fighter. I guess I am. So he focused his whole camp on counter punching. I focused mine on putting the pressure on and the counter puncher beat the pressure fighter. I had to make those adjustments. But had I been a better fighter backing up, I probably would have made that adjustment earlier on. I would have trusted it more. I've been working a lot on that.

Do you think a rematch with Pineda will happen?
I hope so. He's in a position with everything to lose. I'm in a position with everything to gain because he beat me. I hope someday to be at a level where I can make an offer good enough for him to come back and fight again. And be sure by that time that I've made the proper training adjustments to beat him. I should have used my youth in a different way. I used it as I can outlast you, out pressure you, and I have more endurance than you. What I should have done was use my youth in a way of agility, bouncing around, faster footwork. I think if I made some adjustments and rematched him I'd beat him.

The next fight is on the 24th. What can you tell us about the card? I understand you don't have an opponent yet...
No. I thought having a TKO loss on my record would make it easier to match me. Not the case. The team's having a real difficult time matching me up. I suppose every opponent doesn't want to be the comeback guy. It should be a fun card. The fights that are already matched up look pretty good.
(*At the time of the interview there was no opponent. Walters will be facing Preston Kenney of Missouri)

Will you also be fighting on March 17th at the Hinckley Casino?
It sounds like it's a done deal. I'm looking at a pretty busy spring. With Hinkley, Fargo, then back up here. And possibly the cities too. Hopefully I'll bring myself back in a big way, get a bunch of wins on my record.

Anything you'd like to say to close it out?
Kenny Kost. Why doesn't he just fight me? Let's do it. It'd be a good show for the fans. It's always been in the back of my head. It'd be a fun fight. Kenny's a good fighter so lets do it!