CORK LIGHT-MIDDLEWEIGHT PROSPECT Callum Walsh earned an “A-plus” grade from his Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach as he easily disposed of veteran Carson Jones at the Commerce Casino in California.
Cobh native Walsh, who is based in LA and trains under Roach in the famed Wild Card gym in Hollywood, dropped Jones in the fourth round before forcing referee Edward Hernandez Jr to call a halt to proceedings with a subsequent assault.
That's one knockdown for Callum!#HFNBoxing pic.twitter.com/Mp7GuJSVQM
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) June 10, 2023
GIVE THE KING HIS GOLD!!!@KINGCALLUMWALSH with his SIXTH TKO as he climbs to 7-0!!
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) June 10, 2023
Cork, Ireland, you've got yourself a champion!!!#HFNBoxing pic.twitter.com/taY9EVwGVm
It was a picture-perfect performance by the 22-year-old Walsh against an opponent 14 years and 55 professional fights his senior.
Jones — who pushed a near-prime Kell Brook to the brink 11 years ago, and who has given stiff tests to several high-level operators since — entered the ring on a three-fight win streak but the only significant blow he could land on Walsh was through an accidentally-on-purpose clash of heads.
The young Irish southpaw suffered a bad cut just above his left eyebrow during that third-round collision but showed the composure of a vastly more experienced fighter, beating the will out of Jones over the next three minutes.
Walsh is promoted by Tom Loeffler, the American who previously brought boxers such as the Klitschko brothers and Gennady Golovkin to the masses. He is also ostensibly co-promoted on social media by Loeffler’s close friend, UFC president Dana White, who has taken a shine to the Cork man during his time in California.
Loeffler’s 365 Promotions cards are broadcast on White’s UFC Fight Pass streaming platform, and Walsh again topped the bill tonight as he passed the toughest test of his fledgling career so far with flying colours.
.@KINGCALLUMWALSH is UP NEXT! Watch LIVE NOW on @UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/uoMYBwWpaY
— danawhite (@danawhite) June 10, 2023
His trainer Roach — one of whose past Irish students, Dean Byrne, fought Jones to a draw between the American’s two fights with Brook — graded Walsh’s performance an A+.
Walsh, meanwhile, praised veteran Jones for his toughness and warned the rest of the 154-pound division to “remember the name Callum Walsh”.
“Every single punch I throw is to get them out of there,” he added. “I’m not coming in here touching and moving. I’m throwing punches with bad intentions, every single punch.
“I hurt him with a couple of body shots, I could see him wincing from a couple of body shots, and I knew it was time for him to go, y’know? I knew I had him and, if I left him, he might have came into the fight later. I’ve seen him do that: he recovers and he comes back.
“So, I just got him out of there nice and easy. I’ve things to do. I’ve a flight to catch tomorrow.”
