Is Mickey Walker Underrated Here?

That's a difficult task. At least one could read some pre-fight stuff where contemporary sporting writers analyzed the matchup beforehand. Not ideal, but it could give you somewhat better idea about the opponent than just looking at his record.

 

Jersey Joe Walcott is another example, where only several significant bouts are considered when ranking him, nobody wants to look at his lesser known losses or close fights.

 

By that logic Sam Langford's win over Joe Gans should be ignored, like it never happened. Yet I always see it being mentioned among the most significant wins on Langford's resume.

 

Walker was the type of fighter at welter that might have replaced Roberto Duran against SRL in Fight 1, and let the chips fall where they may.

World welterweight champion
He boxed sixteen times in 1921, winning six, losing one and having nine no-decisions. By then, Rhode Island had already become one of the areas where scoring in fights had been installed to allow fighters to get decision victories and this attracted Walker twice to the area. He lost on a disqualification to Joe Stenafik his first time there, but earned his first decision win in twelve rounds against Kid Green the second time around. He also held world champion boxer Jack Britton to a no-decision back in his home state of New Jersey and beat Nate Siegal in Boston.

In 1922, Walker went 3–4–4 before getting a world title shot. He lost to Jock Malone during that span. However, on November 1 of that year, he found himself a world title challenger against Britton, who was the World Welterweight Champion. Walker outpointed Britton over fifteen rounds to become the new world champion.

Walker vs. Greb
He had thirteen fights in 1923, winning 11, having one no decision and one no contest. He defended the title twice, against Pete Latzo and Jimmy Jones. Nine bouts followed in 1924, Walker winning six and having three no decisions. He defeated Lew Tendler and Bobby Barrett in defense of his world title and had two of his three no decisions that year against Jock Malone.

After winning two fights to start 1925, he went up in division to challenge World Middleweight Champion Harry Greb on July 2 but failed to win the Middleweight crown at that time, losing a fifteen-round decision to the 160-pound (73 kg) division champion. He went back to the welterweight division, defending his title against Dave Shade and retaining it by decision. He won three bouts, lost one and had three no decisions that year.

World middleweight champion
On May 20, 1926, he lost the World Welterweight title in a rematch with Pete Latzo. It seemed Walker, now in his 20s, had physically matured out the welterweight division; though many might also point to his extra-curriculars. Whatever the reasons, Walker then began concentrating on winning the World Middleweight Championship. On November 22, he finally was able to beat Jock Malone. On December 3, he conquered the world's middleweight title with a controversial ten-round decision over world champion Tiger Flowers. He kept that title for five years, although he only defended it three times during that span. He beat Mike McTigue and former world champion Paul Berlenbach.

On March 28, 1929, he tried to become a member of the exclusive group of boxers who have been world champions in three different weight divisions, however, he failed in his attempt when he was defeated in a close ten-round decision to World Light Heavyweight Champion Tommy Loughran. On June 19, 1931, Walker decided to give away his world middleweight title to take a leap into the heavyweight division.

Later career
His debut as a Heavyweight on July 22 against former World Heavyweight Champion Jack Sharkey, ended with a fifteen-round draw (tie). In 1932, he went 5–1, beating such fighters as King Levinsky and Paulino Uzcudun before facing former World Heavyweight Champion Max Schmeling, who knocked Walker out in round eight.

He went down in weight again, to the light heavyweight division in 1933, when he lost a fifteen-round decision to Maxie Rosenbloom for the world title. The next year, Walker rematched Rosenbloom and was awarded a decision win. Unfortunately for Walker, Rosenbloom remained the champion, having taken Walker on in a non-title fight. Undaunted, Walker kept campaigning in that division until 1935, when he retired after losing to Eric Seelig by a seven-round technical decision.