Kurt Walker tasted defeat for the first time on Saturday night as he fell to a points defeat against Liam Davies in their battle for the vacant IBF International featherweight title.

The scorecards read 117-111, 115-113 and 116-112 in favour of Davies who was returning to action for the first time since his own maiden defeat when out-pointed by Shabaz Masoud last November at super-bantamweight.

This time, he managed to get the job done in a close contest where perhaps he just seemed to be getting the better of it despite a good final push from Walker.

"I thought he performed brilliantly against James Beech, but he showed different sides to himself tonight," said Walker's manager, Jamie Conlan.

"He's never had to go and dig deep in the trenches the way he had to do tonight.

"That's a credit to himself, his fitness and his training. He just was in there against a very, very good operator in Liam Davies. 

"I had it a lot closer than the big wide scorecard (117-111). He let the first two go pretty easily. He had a great third, pushed again in the fourth. He dug deep where he probably didn't think he needed to or had to and showed he has a bit of balls and a bit of heart. We'll come again."

It was a decent start from the Lisburn man who was quick to punish with a right hand as Davies loaded up with one of his own and he left the Donnington man looking a little foolish as he manoeuvred out of an attack with Davies charging into the ropes.

Davies had targeted the body in the opener for the most part, but began to vary his attacks in the second, picking up the pace with his jab, but Walker was also getting into a bit of a slow as his speed allowed him to beat Davies to the punch on a few occasions.

A boxing match was suiting Walker, so Davies was more intent of turning it into a brawl in the third, getting up close and letting his hands to as he loaded up in the trenches, but still Walker was a match and had his own success, happy to stand and fight as he was the one on the front foot by the end of the third.

Davies was more dominant in the fourth as he sought to set a higher pace, as he began to put his shots together a little more.

He remained aggressive in the fifth, but was caught by two hard counters as Walker let him know he had enough meat behind his punches to garner respect, but it was still Davies with his foot on the gas as he was enjoying success of his own.

It was a close sixth round as both sought to take it by the scruff and they both had their moments, mostly from the outside and heading into the second half, it remained all to play for.

It was another close round in seven but Walker perhaps got the better of it as when he upped the pace of his counters, he had joy, but was also tested consistently to the body.
Davies continued to chop away in the eighth but was warned by referee Steve Gray as he landed low on a couple of occasions. 

There was just a sense that this fight was being dictated on Davies' terms as the up-close exchanges were suiting him and although Walker was getting his own joy, there was more volume coming from the Englishman.

Walker perhaps knew he needed to do something to reassert himself and in the 10th, the pace increased as he boxed with more urgency and began to deliver more volume, which asked questions of Davies.

Into the championship rounds and they both seemed to throw caution to the wind as neither could be absoliutely sure of where they stood, so it was a case of getting down to work and making it a battle of wills as the fought up close and into the last, that continued with Davies making an early dent but Walker, blood seeping from his nose, responded to fight fire with fire.

It was a nervy wait for the verdict with but the outpouring of relief and joy came from Davies who got back into the winning column with Walker now seeking to rebuild, but can take a lot from his performance.

“Experience let me down," said a disappointed Walker.

“The start wasn't working. I was able to change, not many people can do that, so I've done my first 12 rounds. Maybe pacing it wrong at the start and just doing the wrong things at the wrong time just let me down, I think.

“12 rounds is hard. He was good, he was simple, but good with them long arms. I thought I'd be able to deal with it on the boxing side, but he's done very well.

"He was far better than his last defeat, because he didn't fall for the same mistakes, but it's a fight I learned from.

“I thought it was close. I thought I took the last four, and I took one at the start, maybe the third. Then I was thinking it could have been close, maybe 115-113. I was a bit too late.

“I was a bit devastated at the start, but it's a fight, and 12 rounds, I learned a lot. I'll bounce back.”