When it comes to his blossoming boxing career, Javon “Wanna” Walton is eager to prove he’s the real deal.
Walton, 17, rose to fame as Ashtray on Euphoria, but he was training to be a boxer far before he appeared on the HBO drama. But after his second professional fight — a majority draw against Joshua Torres in March — left some critics unenthused with his effort, Walton is the first to admit he wasn’t at his best.
“There’s a lot I took away from that fight,” Walton — who exclusively spoke to Us Weekly as part of his Samsung partnership — said candidly. “That was 20 percent of what I’ve been able to fight at. The performance wasn’t exactly what I wanted.”
With 85 amateur fights under his belt, however, Walton wasn’t looking to make any excuses.
“I was dealing with some injuries. I’m not here to talk about those. I’ve never talked about those before,” Walton said of the fight. “In the boxing world, I know what I’m capable of and I know what I can show everybody in the ring. I want to show people I’m here for a reason. I’m not fighting on this big stage just because I got here with ease.”
He boasted, “I will continue to showcase to the world why I’m here and one day I’ll be able to fight for a world title.”
Walton will head into camp for his third professional “very soon,” where he promises “a much better version of me than my last fight.”
“I want y’all to be able to see that and judge it for yourself,” he continued. “If I have a bad performance, I’ll own up to that. But guess what? I’m not going to.”
Along the way, Walton said he’s not interested in any highly publicized matchups against celebrated UFC competitors or boxers of old (think Jake Paul’s upcoming match against Mike Tyson or Paul’s fights against the likes of former UFC champion Tyron Woodley) to help raise his profile.
“For me personally, that’s not very important to me,” he explained. “I want to fight all fighters that have been in the game. I want every fight to be a test. That’s the only way to build to that world title fight, by fighting official boxers that have amateur backgrounds, that have professional backgrounds.”
Walton insisted, “I want to fight top-level guys 24/7. The boxing stuff isn’t a money play for me.”
For the record, Walton has no issue with Paul and even signed to the social-media-star-turned-boxer’s promotional company last year.
“It’s truly impressive what he’s brought to boxing, just in general,” Walton said of Paul, 27. “It’s been a big help in the sport.”
As for a potential world title timeline, Walton said he prefers to keep things fluid, but he’s not afraid to admit he has his eyes on the prize.
“I never want to put a date on it,” he said. “When I put a date on it, I expect it at that time. Hopefully, I’m 15 fights deep and can be fighting for titles. That’s the goal.”
To help him get there, Walton has partnered with Samsung and their newest line of mobile products, launching this week.
“Samsung has been an awesome family to be part of,” Walton said. “I love their products. They have so many features that other phones don’t have, especially with the AI technology they’ve been using. Down to the way the phone is built, there’s really nothing like it.”
Galaxy Unpacked — a livestream from Paris — will launch the brand’s new line of products, available to watch on Samsung.com and Samsung’s YouTube channel at 9 a.m. ET on Wednesday, July 10.
