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Walters Shares His Thoughts on Muller Fight!

"JungleBoy" Zach Walters is currently busy finishing up his final credits toward his psychology degree at the the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Ironically, Walters recently passed his biggest test in the ring last April when he stopped Teddy Muller in Duluth, Mn. Walters showed heart and poise as he survived an early knockdown in the first round. Walters went on to take Muller apart, dropping him twice in the third round of an exciting fight. MinnesotaBoxing.com caught up the Minnesota light heavyweight champion to get his thoughts on what went down last April 22nd!

What was the fight plan going into the fight with Muller based on what you learned before hand by studying his past performances?

I knew he was an aggressive fighter so I trained myself to be busier. It was important to discourage him from attacking at will early in the fight. I knew that if I could get him backing up I'd beat him. Because of that, I ended up going toe-to-toe with him. I got a bit shook up in the first, but when the round was over I knew I would get back into the fight. My conditioning was the best it has ever been. From the tapes on Muller I saw he generally didn't like to fight backing up so I based a lot of my plans around forcing him to back up. My second plan was to be evasive and stay on my toes, similar to the way Allen
Green beat him. I wanted to stage an impressive performance so my first plans were to get Muller backing up. Show dominance. It was important for me to come out with a BANG after the long layoff. I wanted to show the fans all the improvements I made while I was away from the ring. You see, I don't sit on my butt between fights. I'm constantly learning new stuff and making myself a better, more complete boxer. God gave me the skills to box and I want to do me best every time I step in the ring. Excitement was key for this fight.

Muller came at you with bad intensions straight out of the gate. He isn't usually known as an aggressive fighter but he seemed to change his usual strategy for this fight and throw his bombs right away rather then box. Did you expect him to box more or come out swinging like he did?

A lot of fight fans think Muller isn't a "known puncher," but I thought different of him. He dropped Mike Wood several times in the first round en route to a stoppage victory. Muller also broke Troy Roland's jaw during their fight even though he lost the fight. Another tell for Muller's punching power was he destroyed Joe DiSalvo last summer. It seemed like he was getting a liking for stopping his opponents. I didn't want anything to do with that so I prepared myself for him throwing power shots at me. That's a big reason why I was able to make quick adjustments after the first round and turn the fight around. I am big on using visualization. I mentally put myself though situations of getting hurt and thought out how to get through them.
This helped because I didn't have to think of what to do next, I just knew. My corner was great as well. They helped me keep my focus during the chaos.

Muller was able to catch you with some good shots in the first round. You were put down once and given a standing eight count. Were you hurt bad, just stunned, or off balance? Can you give us what was going through your mind at that time?

Well, like I already said, Muller packs a good punch. He got me with a few good ones, but nothing so bad it took me out of my game. The knockdown was more of a punch-clinch-throw type thing that shook me up. The standing 8-count I received was off a hard shot. Muller was coming in with a combination and landed a good one. I thought, 'This isn't good, I've got
to stop this from happening again.' I knew if I made it out of the round I would be ok. From the way Muller came out in the first round, it looked like he wanted to make it a fight more than a boxing match.

It seems like you have reached for that next level immediately following the few times you have been stunned. I have seen you put down in the fight with Luis Lopez, buzzed against Lindquist and Muller. You seem to recover from shots very quickly and turn it up when the heat is on. Is it a matter of you starting slow, or more about getting a bit of a wake up call to bring out the bestin you?

It's not about starting slow. I've never been a slow starter. I think it's that my opponents want to get past my reach so they put the pressure on with a fast start. My job is to discourage them and stop the pressure. In the process, there tends to be some dangerous exchanges. When an opponent hurts me I think the best way to stop them from doing it again is to hurt them back. By doing this I show that I am still a dangerous fighter and not hurt as bad as they may think. With Lindquist, I was never hurt. He just punched my mouth piece out and assumed I was. The mouth piece was terrible. I actually threw it
away after the fight. With Louis Lopez, I started really fast. Kinda like the fight with Mike Wood, but with more intensity. I tried to take a break in the third to catch my wind and he caught me with a good punch off a break. I finished the round and came back to KO him in the next. In me versus Muller, he just caught me before I caught him. We both had bad intentions from the opening bell. As soon as I was fully recovered from the shots, I made sure he knew I was still dangerous.

Ok, back to the Muller fight. Muller won the first round. He had you hurt but you kept coming straight back like I said. The second was pretty even. You looked like yourself in the third round. Your jab, movement and combos were working. Did you see something in Muller that told you it was your time to turn it up?

I had figured out his head movement pattern and was beginning to capitalize on it by catching him with nice shots. I remember feeling my knuckles on a jab I nailed him with when he was trying to come in. After that he was turning away when I hit him with jabs and his knees began to buckle. I knew it was not like Muller to show punk so I knew he had to be hurting. That's when I decided to turn up the steam.

How hurt was Muller after the first knockdown? He was stumbling all over the place, did you believe you had him ready to go at that point?

I think Muller was really hurt after the first knock down. I began to think he wanted to quit when he walked to his corner and turned his back to the ref during the 8-count. I know I hit hard and I had caught Muller with some solid shots. When the ref took him over to the ring-doc for a look I started prayin' for more time in the round so I could finish him. I knew that if I jumped on Muller as soon as he came out I could end the fight. That's what I did and that's what happened.

Shortly after, you dropped him again. It appeared to me that as the referee was counting, he stopped to ask if Muller could continue. It looked like Muller shook his head no, only to start complaining afterwards that he could have fought on. You were closer obviously, is this what you saw happening also?

It looked to me that Muller shook his head to say "No" when the ref asked if he wanted to continue the fight. It looked like Muller was out of it after I dropped him. He sat on the ground looking around as if he didn't know where he was. Then half way through the count he got up, but still looked out of it.

This was a good win against a tough opponent. Especially after coming off a long layoff. What does your fight calendar look like for the rest of the year. Also, can you talk about where you are at in your career as far as your quest to advance from prospect to contender?

Beating Muller by KO was a huge thing for my career. He was only stopped once and that was by Jerson Ravelo in four rounds. I beat him in three. Not even Allen Green stopped Muller. It was a nice pay off for all the hard work I put in during preparation for the fight.

The nearest event for me on the calendar will be something the end of summer. No dates have been set; it's just something my team wants to do. Right now I am up to my ears in school work from finishing college this summer. I get my degree in Psychology the 28th of July. That is something I am very proud of. With my degree out of the way I want to take my career to the next level. My time will be freed up so I can focus more time on each fight. My goal is to solidify my position at this next level of competition. I want to continue getting my name out there by fighting the best opposition I can. There are many names I want to fight, but it seems useless to throw any out at this time