JAVON WALTON is being tipped as a name to remember in boxing – but some will already know exactly who that is.
Walton had over 85 amateur bouts and several junior titles but he shot to fame with his role in Emmy-award winning HBO series Euphoria.
So when the 17-year-old made the decision to turn professional, YouTuber-turned boxer Jake Paul snapped him right up.
And Paul – who has spent the last six years going from prankster to prizefighter – believes he has boxing’s next big thing on his hands.
Paul, 27, told SunSport: “He has everything it takes. And that’s the beauty of it. It’s up to him and bringing it into reality 1,000 per cent.
“But I see it for him, he has the talent, he has the following already and he has Most Valuable Promotions, the name speaks for itself.
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“He has people around him like Amanda Serrano, surrounded by GOATs since day one and being around events like this as part of his global debut, it doesn’t get any bigger or better than this.
“I see no reason why with his family, his dad, the people in his life, Nakisa helping steer the ship that he can’t be the star of boxing.”
Walton was first taken to the gym by his boxing-mad dad DJ at the age of just four.
He said: “I really fell in love with it and I’ve been boxing ever since.”
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At the same time as competing up and down the country, Walton was also making a name for himself as an actor.
He has also featured in Utopia, The Umbrella Academy, and 2022 film Samaritan alongside Rocky creator Sylvester Stallone.
But now he is ready to let his hands do the talking on Saturday night in Puerto Rico, making his pro debut against Joshua Torres.
Walton said: “However, people support me, they support me, I appreciate the support at the end of the day.
“Of course, I’d like people to know more about my amateur background for sure but not everyone is going to know about that.
“That’s what I’ve got to do Saturday night, I’ve gotta prove to everybody why I’m in the ring in the first place and show everybody that I’m really about this.”
Walton already has over 5million Instagram followers and is following the same blueprint that has afforded his new promoter so many lucrative fights.
Paul said: “This is the new model of how to become the biggest in the sport and it’s starting from day one, it’s having that audience and backing it up in the ring.
“You look at some of the biggest modern stars, the youngest ones, it’s me, Ryan Garcia and that came from branding and marketing themselves.
“I believe the biggest fighters from the next generation will have their own content, have their own pages, have their own audience from maybe other places, podcasts whatever it might be.
“And this is the new model and that’s why this is so exciting is that he already has the people and the eyeballs and now it’s just going to compound.
“And it’s almost greater when people doubt him or don’t think he’s going to be able to rise to the top of the sport because that journey and that story is more fun to follow than someone who is just starting out and you don’t know their name and their 22-0.”
Walton – whose last role was in true crime drama Under the Bridge – refused to close the door on his acting career despite boxing taking a front seat.
He revealed: “I won’t say this is an end on the acting world at all or projects in the future.
“But the priority right now is boxing and to accomplish everything I can accomplish right now in the boxing world.”
Walton’s most high profile gig was the role of Ashtray through two series of the acclaimed Euphoria.
He starred alongside Angus Cloud and the two become close friends on and off set.
Sadly, Cloud passed away aged 25 last year following an accidental drug overdose but his life will live long in the memory for Walton.
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The young boxer said: “He was a good friend to me. He was a super great guy on set.
“I knew him for about six years because we got to build that chemistry on set and he’s definitely going to have a special place in my heart forever.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
