“King” Callum Walsh drops Carlos Ortiz three times to move up to 11-0
The Pride of Cork, “King” Callum Walsh obliterated proven puncher Carlos Ortiz, in spectacular fashion at the Chumash Casino Resort in Southern California on June 12, with a devastating second round KO, successfully defending his WBC Continental Americas super-welterweight title.
23-year-old southpaw Callum Walsh (11-0, 9KO) wasted no time in round one by dropping Ortiz (14-6, 14KO) with a mighty right hand. He then repeated the dose to canvas him again. A shell-shocked Ortiz barely made it out of round one, saved by the bell.
Six-foot Walsh used his 72-inch reach to keep Ortiz at bay in round two and then clobbered him with a stunning left, which drew gasps from the sell out crowd, following through with a short crunching left hook with crashed him to the canvass and Ortiz was counted out in 1:50 of the second session.
International Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, who has been developing Walsh in the Wild Card Gym, described it as the finest win, thus far in his brilliantly promising career.
Walsh was only recently named in BBN’s top five UK prospects in 2024, along with heavyweight phenom Moses Itauma.
Tom Loeffler of 360 Promotions who promotes Walsh said: ”It was a truly great win. Ortiz is a big puncher, so Callum, to avoid the risk really went on the offense from the word go, and Ortiz couldn’t get going. Callum took him out of his game plan.
“Ortiz has never been stopped before. This is a very, very impressive statement that Callum made. I’m glad the Referee stopped it when he did Ortiz was taking unnecessary punches by that point. He was wobbly and wasn’t effectively able to land his own.
“This was a breakout performance for Callum. It’s an exclamation point of where Callum is at. This was his eleventh fight and I really think we saw some maturity in both his training camp and the fight itself.
“We have massive respect for what Katie Taylor has accomplished for Ireland and Irish boxing fans. Callum is a fast rising star in boxing and he proudly wears the flag or Ireland on his shoulders. We are certainly not going to rush things. Even with performances like this.
“There is still a big learning curve for Callum. Every camp with Freddie Roach, he learns something new. Realistically a world title is still two years away. Freddie is very confident in Callum’s stills and learning abilities. He feels that at the right time, Callum will become a world champion.
“Callum says he’ll fight anyone. He’s supremely confident and he’s not afraid to take risks and he understands that’s what Dana is looking for. This was the first defence of his WBC Continental Americas title. He came through it with flying colours. Not only did he perform in the ring, but it was his first time fighting in Southern California, after headlining Madison Square Garden twice and this was also a sold out event, so we are thrilled with the promotional side of it as well.
“Callum has a big body frame, but he gets a lot of leverage on his punches. I don’t know how much longer he’ll stay at super-welterweight. He still makes the weight easily. But he could easily grow into a middleweight and his phenomenal punching power.
“It’s still early to say and compare him to legends like GGG and the Klitschko Brothers, but Callum is certainly on his way. I didn’t start working with GGG until he was thirty and Callum right now at just twenty three, selling out venues and with great performances like this, he’s definitely well ahead of the curve. The world is his oyster and with his built in Irish fanbase, it just gives him that much more of a head start on the promotions side.”
Now on to Ireland and a Celtic Championship fight.