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Banks-Walker, Ustinov to be featured on Klitschko-Chambers card

Johnathon Banks will face Travis Walker in the main support fight this Saturday beneath Klitschko-Chambers.

Johnathon Banks will face Travis Walker in the main support fight this Saturday beneath Klitschko-Chambers.

Americans Johnathon Banks and Travis Walker will face off in the main support bout for Klitschko-Chambers on Saturday in Germany, and heavyweight Alexander Ustinov will also be featured on the card.

Banks (23-1, 16 KO) moved up to the heavyweight division last year after being stopped in eight rounds by Tomasz Adamek in a bid for the world cruiserweight championship. Banks, 27, is an Emanuel Steward product (though not trained by Steward anymore) who has sparred extensively with Wladimir Klitschko. Since moving up, the Detroit native has gone 3-0 against mediocre opponents. At 6'3" with a 76" reach, he has a heavyweight frame for sure.

Walker (34-3-1, 28 KO) will be a new test, or at least that's the hope. Walker is probably best-known for his three-round war with Cristobal Arreola in 2008, a fight in which Walker put Arreola on the canvas before being stopped himself. He threw an insane amount of punches early on and simply ran out of gas. Before fighting Vitali Klitschko, Arreola had remarked that Walker was his toughest opponent, and that he "hits like a mule kicks."

Since losing to Arreola, though, Walker has faced an insanely weak batch of fighters, save for the solid Manuel Quezada -- and Quezada knocked Walker out in 2:57. Walker has been stopped three times, all early in fights, but one was pretty terrible. You may recall seeing Walker stopped very early against TJ Wilson on the first round of a ShoBox fight in 2007. When they rematched, Walker took him out in two.

Walker's last three fights have all been gruesome mismatches in Texarkana, Arkansas, where he's beaten a guy who came in 3-21, a guy who was 3-0, and in his last conquest, a guy making his "pro" debut.

Also featured on the card will be big, slow Alexander Ustinov (19-0, 12 KO), the 33-year-old former kickboxer who was last seen on the Vitali Klitschko-Kevin Johnson undercard. Ustinov faced the ultra-chinny Monte Barrett that night, and failed to put him away after hurting him badly very early in the fight. He won a labored unanimous decision.

Ustinov is scheduled to face 37-year-old former world title challenger Ed Mahone, who hasn't fought since 2008. Mahone (24-9-2, 23 KO) faced Vitali Klitschko for the WBO title way back in 1999. He was stopped in three. Since then, he's gone 3-8, and he hasn't won a fight since November 2007.

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This sounds like it could be a fun fight

I wouldn’t be suprised if Pac turned out to be the incredible hulk in a very good disguise. - Sigidy

by Drunken cutman on Mar 15, 2010 6:36 PM EDT reply actions  

Banks-Walker could be damn exciting. Banks actually gave Adamek some trouble before he ran out of gas.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by SC on Mar 15, 2010 6:38 PM EDT up reply actions  

I'd be shocked if this one goes the full 12

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Mar 15, 2010 7:24 PM EDT up reply actions  

I’ll be shocked if it goes six.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by SC on Mar 15, 2010 9:07 PM EDT up reply actions  

Arreola-Walker

If I remember correctly Arreola was down once not twice in that fight.

by JasonTryp on Mar 16, 2010 2:31 AM EDT reply actions  

you're right

Arreola took the knee in the second, then knocked Walker down twice in the same round.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by SC on Mar 16, 2010 7:04 AM EDT up reply actions  

Ustinov, horrific fighter that he is, has the right idea. The problem is, it’s not as easy as you’d think to keep fighting totally done fighters who are older than you when you’re already 33.

by El Destruyo on Mar 16, 2010 2:35 PM EDT reply actions  

Fortunately

I don’t think the Ustinov fight will actually be on the PPV. Dude is rotten though.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Mar 17, 2010 2:17 AM EDT up reply actions  

I think Banks was the sort of Stewart b-shelf product that got the big “use your height” speech twice a week but wasn’t really molded and developed the way Stewart use to develop guys. I also think he’s fallen into the classic cruiser trap, now. I would not be surprised at all if Walker pulled a punch out of his rear-end and stopped him.

"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb

by jrok on Mar 17, 2010 12:54 PM EDT reply actions  

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