Gavan Casey
CORK YOUNGSTER CALLUM Walsh continued his acceleration through boxing’s light-middleweight ranks in a first headline slot at Madison Square Garden’s 5,000-capacity Theater venue on Thursday night, and now it could be time to pump the brakes.
The 22-year-old from Cobh earned a career-best victory over native New Yorker Ismael Villarreal, besting the Bronx bomber in an absolute humdinger to earn a close but fair unanimous-decision verdict.
Make no mistake about it: this was a real fight for the fast-rising ‘King’ Callum (now 9-0, 7KOs), and one for which plenty of Irish boxing connoisseurs were twitching in their seats in the wee hours of Friday morning on this side of the Atlantic.
Unbelievable performances from both fighters! ???????? #HFNBoxing pic.twitter.com/6LfxCbNUrV
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) November 10, 2023Unlike most opponents chosen for an up-and-coming A-side star like Walsh, there were no caveats with Villarreal.
The 26-year-old is a legitimately powerful puncher with his own designs on world honours at 154 pounds. He carried with him to the MSG ring a record of 13-1(9KOs), his sole career blemish a razor-tight loss to fellow American prospect Ardreal Holmes Jr back in February. A fight before that, Villarreal had ended the undefeated run of former two-time U.S. amateur champion LeShawn Rodriquez, dropping him twice en route to a sixth-round stoppage.
Stepping up to the 10-round distance for the first time, Walsh was acutely aware that this fight would take serious winning; that he would need to both box and brawl at personal-best levels to have his arm raised over Villarreal’s. He did, and it was.
But the unanimous decision in Walsh’s favour scarcely tells the story of an enthralling half-hour scrap in which Villarreal dished out a significant portion of the punishment.
Both boxers hurt the other. Walsh had Villarreal reeling on a couple of occasions but the American had the nous to weather those storms. At the end of the eighth, the chasing Villarreal dipped Walsh with a rasper of a left hook off the ropes but botched what may have been a knockdown in his favour by leaning on Walsh in an attempt to force him to the canvas.
Callum gets through and hurts Villarreal! #HFNBoxing pic.twitter.com/OLwu4gWvpU
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) November 10, 2023Villareal lands a big shot to end the 8th! #HFNBoxing pic.twitter.com/siFD7kV2C6
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) November 10, 2023In the final round, Villarreal was officially awarded a knockdown, albeit fortuitously as he basically shoved the heavy-legged Walsh off balance.
Walsh was still the worthy winner and, through a longer-term lens, this was an invaluable victory for the Freddie Roach-trained prospect for several reasons.
For one, his first ever headline bout in The Garden’s downstairs arena made for excellent value for money for the 3,000 or so people in attendance. MSG chiefs are keen for the Los Angeles-based Walsh to make their venue his fighting home, similar to how John Duddy became a Garden fighter in the mid-to-late 2000s. Rest assured, when Walsh returns to the Big Apple for his 10th professional bout on St Patrick’s Weekend, word will have spread through New York’s Irish community that the kid from Cork is worth a night out.
Secondly, Walsh proved at least one thing to those who aren’t yet convinced that the hype is proportionate to his talent: he is one tough you-know-what.
You might be inclined to wonder why that’s of particular importance. Really, it’s just about acceptance.
Walsh isn’t deluded in his self-confidence but he is equally not shy. He is routinely put over the top by some of the most prominent figures in combat sports (namely trainer Roach, promoter Tom Loeffler, and UFC president Dana White who ostensibly co-promotes Walsh through social media and his UFC Fight Pass streaming service). Earlier this week, ahead of his MSG bow, the Empire State Building was lit up in Irish colours in his honour. He has 183,000 followers on Instagram just nine fights into his pro career. He’s now one half of a combat-sports power couple with Brazilian UFC star Tabatha ‘Baby Shark’ Ricci, who is even better known than he is.
These are the kinds of things that will annoy a lot of people about Callum Walsh.
There are boxing fans who have so far perceived him to be little more than another gobby Irishman, similarly to how a lot of Americans viewed Michael Conlan when he signed with Bob Arum’s Top Rank after flipping the bird at the judges who stole his Olympic dream in Rio. They’re not yet sure why promoter Tom Loeffler — the shrewd American who brought the Klitschko brothers and Gennady Golovkin to the masses — sees Walsh as his next flagship fighter.
There are also corners of MMA fandom in which Walsh is resented, for why would ‘Dana’ continue to platform a boxer with whom he has no formal association? (The answer is that White is a close friend of Loeffler’s, he likes the cut of Walsh’s jib, and he knows that Walsh could conceivably bring swathes of new subscribers to UFC Fight Pass if he continues on his current trajectory within boxing).
We remember another Irish fighter who took over NYC... ???????? @KINGCALLUMWALSH boxing this Thursday on @UFCFightPass ahead of #UFC295! pic.twitter.com/4W7Tssfyp4
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) November 8, 2023But the one way for a fighter to gain universal acceptance among followers of any combat sport is to engage in blood-curdling wars the likes of which Walsh and Villarreal waged upon each other in New York. Boxing fans may not like a prima donna but they’ll always respect a sicko. (Just ask the aforementioned Conlan, whose reputation on the far side of the Atlantic was enhanced tenfold even in defeat to Leigh Wood 18 months ago).
Perhaps most pertinently, though, Walsh’s narrow win over Villarreal was a precious one because it will allow the Cork man to take his foot off the accelerator before he ploughs into a wall.
Since his first pro fight in December 2021, Walsh has taken on incrementally more difficult challenges and passed them all — seven of them quickly.
At 22, just nine fights in, he finds himself knocking around the top 20 of a light-middleweight division which consists of almost 2,000 active participants. If everybody was on board, promoter Loeffler could probably manufacture a world-title shot for Walsh within two to three fights.
Thanks to everyone for the support last night the atmosphere inside MSG was unbelievable I look forward to fighting there again very soon, I hope everyone enjoyed it9-0 ☘️ pic.twitter.com/fzw9aFJ3Ic
— KING CALLUM WALSH (@KINGCALLUMWALSH) November 10, 2023The beauty of Thursday night, though, is that it affords Walsh the luxury of patience.
He absolutely passed his sternest test but with the boxing equivalent of third-class honours, as should be expected for a prodigy who has been fast-tracked through his course.
Rather than another step up in March, Loeffler and Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach should persuade Walsh to take a sideways step. Indeed, there’s a case to be made that they should move him more laterally than vertically for the bones of 2024.
Two or three more 10-rounders against opponents of Villarreal’s calibre would continue to build Walsh’s profile on both sides of the pond — but more importantly, they would give him time to further acclimatise to the longer distance, to tighten up a defence that for the moment would be exploited at the very top level, and to refine his already impressive attacking skill set.
As we could gleam from his performance on his biggest stage to date, there’ll be no fear of Callum Walsh.
But at the same time, there’s no rush, either.
