?Growing up in Jamaica I wasn?t in neglect of anything. I was introduced to pretty much anything because where I grew up was definitely in the ghetto??
?Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.??Bob Marley
In an anticipation of Saturday?s fight at New York?s Madison Square Garden Theater between WBA Super World featherweight champion, Nicholas ?Axe Man? Walters (25-0, 21 KOs), from Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Miguel ?The Scorpion? Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs), from Cartagena, Colombia, I?ve been trying to get a hold of the champ.
His promoter, Top Rank, wasn?t much help. The WBA wasn?t much help either. Rather than tear out my hair, especially with so little hair left to tear out, I resumed my normal activities.
In addition to breaking rocks in the hot sun, an improvement over pushing them up a steep hill, my duties include scouring the internet in search of something interesting and with any luck readable. It?s not as easy as it sounds?I?m talking about scouring the internet for something readable. Breaking rocks in the hot sun is a piece of cake in comparison.
But as luck would have it, I came across two interviews?the first from The Gleaner, the second from UnitedReggae.com?hometown websites so to speak?that proved useful for my purposes.
?Boxing has been in my blood from a tender age,? the Axe Man told UnitedReggae. ?I started boxing at age seven. Jamaica has a strong background of boxers and strong champions. The boxing went down after a while but we still have strong champions. We have Mike McCallum. We have Glen Johnson. We have Lennox Lewis who is Jamaican and also a strong champion. We have Simon Brown. Whenever we do get a champion we have a strong champion.?
The Axe Man?s father, Job Walters, was a fighter himself. He fought as a featherweight from 1986 to 1991 and went 12-7 before retiring, but not before fighting the likes of Kevin Kelley, Rafael Ruelas, and John John Molina.
?Growing up in those days and living in a home,? Job told The Gleaner, ?there were really only two options for you if you didn?t have an education?music and sports. I used to dabble in cricket and when I left the home at 16, one day I went to a cricket match with my father and saw a man challenging anyone to box him. I decided to give it a try and the people were cheering for me because the guy couldn?t hit me.
?I found my purpose in boxing. It was a vehicle for me to travel the world and give me a better life. Traveling to compete in matches opened my eyes to be grateful for what I have because some people live worse lives, but still are humble and grateful.?
That humility and gratitude is something Job passed on to his son.
?My father was a pro fighter and I loved to watch him train,? Walters said. ?That?s how I first got interested in boxing. He noticed my interest and personally kicked off my career when I was just a boy. Everything I am today is because of him. Every success is due to him. Not only was he my father, but he was my first coach and he believed in me every step of the way, even when I doubted myself.
?My first win at age 22 against Panamanian Esteban Ramos helped to boost my confidence and showed me that based on my father?s teachings and my own hard work I had what it took to make a career of boxing. Because of my dad, boxing changed my life and is now a big part of it.?
Job added, ?To see my boy fight is good for me. I love going with him to his matches not just because he?s a good boxer and I am confident he will do well, but because he?s giving something back to the world?enjoyment, entertainment and mostly to the Jamaican public, honor and pride.
?Everybody needs a purpose in life and I am happy that Nicholas has found his. Win, lose or draw, he?s making the world a better place through his boxing. I couldn?t be happier.?
Jamaica is known for many things. Blue Mountain coffee and ganja come to mind, and while boxing is the Top of the Hit Parade, reggae is the Top of the Pops.
?My favorite music is a lot of music,? the Axe Man told UnitedReggae. ?Jamaica has a strong background for music. I love culture reggae music like Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Beresford Hammond. We have quite a few great artists and great musics so I couldn?t say just one music. Music is in my background, music in general. Me personally, I?m a lover of music, roots reggae, lover?s music and soul music. But on the street we mostly listened to hardcore reggae music and dancehall music.?
Reggae was hip hop before there was hip hop. It emerged from the streets and became a global phenomenon.
?Reggae music in Jamaica is more like athletics in Jamaica?the road is already paved. Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Burning Spear, they definitely paved the way for reggae music. So reggae music doesn?t really face the challenge that boxing fights in Jamaica. Reggae music in the world is in almost every country. I?m in Panama where they speak Spanish and you can go to almost every house or every street and you hear a DJ playing reggae music. It?s like you?re in Jamaica.
?Growing up in Jamaica I wasn?t in neglect of anything. I was?how can I put it now??introduced to pretty much anything because where I grew up was definitely in the ghetto. I grew up in a good loving home but in boy life, you get a chance to do a little of everything.?
Although there?s a boxing presence in Jamaica, it?s not as profound as what can be found in Panama, which is where Walters lives and trains.
?Jamaicans and Jamaica have a strong boxing background,? Walters said. ?The Jamaican people?they love boxing. It went down for a few years but it?s coming up now, it?s coming back and we?re catching up. In Panama there is definitely more competition, more events, more fight cards, and boxers can be more active in Panama. So my manager, Mr. Jaques Deschamps, decided to have me move over there to do some work. We went over there and we liked the environment and the atmosphere and we just stuck over there.
?In Panama I got to meet quite a few of the past world champions and they are good friends of mine. Roberto Duran is a good friend of mine personally and we have been invited to the same events so we hook up, we talk and sit down together. Not only do I get the chance to meet some of the superstars in boxing from Panama but I also get points and instructions from them for my young career, so I?m very blessed.?
