Eric Walker stood several feet away from Israil Madrimov in a social distancing faceoff Thursday, ahead of their fight Saturday night in Tulsa, Okla.
The fight is significant, as it's a final eliminator for the WBA junior middleweight title. Although Walker is laser-focused on trying to prove naysayers wrong as the underdog in the bout, a part of his heart rests elsewhere.
Part of his thoughts are with a forgotten segment of society's population during this global pandemic — the prison population, especially in his home state of Louisiana.
Walker spent 13 years in Louisiana's prison system on armed robbery and attempted murder charges. His time behind bars began a day before he turned 16. It was in prison where he learned to box — not as a sport or hobby to pass time, but to simply survive.
So, when DAZN told Walker about the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana suing the state over the release of documents from a board that was created to decide whether inmates should be released early from prison due to the coronavirus pandemic, Walker didn't hesitate speaking his mind.
"I think that would be great," Walker told DAZN about releasing low-level offense inmates due to COVID-19 risks. "The guys that's actually up in there making a change for themselves, taking a self-help program and actually in there being a good inmate are showing that they're ready for society.
"So, I think that would be great because Louisiana is overcrowded with inmates in prison that I think deserve a second chance," he continued. "And I feel like I was given a second chance, and I feel like if a lot of guys would be given that second chance, they will come out and actually be great — not only just boxing — because they also have different traits and guys that have different skills up in there."
The ACLU of Louisina is pushing the state to release documents from a panel review of low-level prisoners in order to gauge whether they should be granted an early release due to pandemic risks.
"In April, as public health experts warned that prisons would become powderkegs for COVID-19, the Louisiana Department of Corrections created a Furlough Review Panel with the stated purpose of reducing the prison population in order to protect public health," a statement from the ACLU read, as reported by KATC 3 ABC News in Louisiana earlier this week. "The panel was tasked with considering 1,100 people who were imprisoned for low-level offenses and within 180 days of their scheduled release. But three months later, reporting by The Advocate found that the panel examined fewer than 600 of those cases and approved 100 for release, and only 63 were expected to be released."
The whole situation doesn't sit well with Walker.
"When I think about inmates being in prison, I think about a lot of guys that I left behind, and I know if they had that opportunity to get out, that they'd make a change and help out in society with everything going on," he said. "We have a lot of killing (in Louisiana) going on.
"I think it's really bad in there because I still have family and friends up in there that I talk to," he added, "that could call my phone and they tell me how bad it is up in there."
While that struggle is likely to continue, Walker’s immediate fight is against Madrimov on Saturday night. The 25-year-old Madrimov is 5-0 with 5 KOs and has been slugged as the A-side against the 37-year-old veteran Walker (20-2, 9 KOs).
The Plaquemine, La., native isn’t irked over the position he’s in at all. If anything, it's the opportunity to make a point.
“Boxing is like anything else — it has politics,” he said. “It's all about who you know. (Madrimov’s) in a great position. He's hooked up with the right people. My job is to come in and demolish that. I can't let them build off of me.”
Madrimov vs. Walker will serve as the co-main event to Cecilia Braekhus defending her undisputed welterweight crown against Jessica McCaskill in downtown Tulsa, Okla., and live on DAZN.