One half of the #BAMMA25 main event, Bantamweight Champion Shay Walsh was the special guest on this week’s #WHOACAST.
Walsh puts his gold on the line against the current BAMMA Featherweight Champion, Tom Duquesnoy and the Champ can’t wait to get back into the cage;
“I mean I said after the fight with Ed that I didn’t want to wait 6 months, unfortunately with timings that has happened but I am just itching ready to go. I put a lot of work in for this fight already. Everything is coming together and I am ready for a really good performance.”
Whilst Walsh wasn’t able to get back into the cage in the timeframes he had hoped for, this hasn’t stopped him ramping up his training and he heads into the fight of his life off the back of a big 12 weeks training camp.
“I knew I was fighting on this date way before it was announced so have done a 12 weeks for this fight. I was in Thailand already been out there treating it like a longer training camp. Then been home working with my brother going over game plan and fine tuning with my brother Sergio. Then I head back out to Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand this week to finish off the camp.”
Featherweight Champion Duquesnoy made the drop to Bantamweight at BAMMA 24, defeating Damien Rooney and setting up this Champion Vs Champion bout at BAMMA 25. For Walsh though he was always sold on the fact that these two would meet at some stage during their careers.
“I was competing at 145 in BAMMA and Tom held the belt at time, so my eyes have been on him since then. The way it worked out I decided to drop earlier and won belt. I expected him to follow and once he announced he was dropping I knew it was on the cards for the future. It’s a very exciting fight for me.”
“I expected Tom to win the fight, he had a great performance against Rooney. He is the only logical guy to fight for the Title. When I was getting asked in interviews I didn’t know who was next. Me against another Bantamweight in the division wouldn’t headline this card.”
For Walsh the prospect of going into this fight as the Champion of his weight class gives him the upper hand but he is well aware of the challenges that Duquesnoy’s poses, although believes he has enough skills and ability to exploit those.
“If you come to fight me and you are not in 100% shape you are going to drown. You need to be on top of your game. Tom has made the weight once but hasn’t been tested he doesn’t even know how he feels after the weight cut. Definitely be looking to exploit that.”
Be sure to check out the full episode of the #WHOACAST and please subscribe, share and comment in the link below;