By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Nicholas Walters was within earshot Wednesday when promoter Bob Arum said he wants to make a Walters-Vasyl Lomachenko unification fight in October or November.

Jamaica’s Walters is all for it. Colombia’s Miguel Marriaga is an undefeated, heavy-handed challenger, but Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) expects to knock out Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs) in their “Boxing After Dark” main event Saturday in The Theater at Madison Square Garden (HBO; 10 p.m. ET).

If that happens, a featherweight championship unification fight against Urkaine’s Lomachenko (4-1, 2 KOs), the highly skilled southpaw who holds the WBO 126-pound title, is the bout Walters wants next.

“It’s a big fight,” Walters, 29, said. “The world wants to see that fight. Like I say, Uncle Bob is the man who makes the fights. I’m the guy who fights the fights. You talk to Top Rank, HBO and if they can make the fight, I’ll fight the fight.”

Arum made his position clear on Walters-Lomachenko.

“That’s the fight I want to make,” Arum said. “No f---ng around – go right into that fight. People would love that fight. That would be a great f---ing fight.”

Walters, who won the WBA featherweight title by knocking out Nonito Donaire (34-3, 22 KOs) in the sixth round of his last fight, agrees.

“He’s a good fighter,” Walters said of Lomachenko. “He has skills and everything. … I’m happy for him. He’s a great champ, a very good fighter. When we get the chance to fight, it’s going to be a good fight.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.