King Callum Walsh continues unbeaten reign
Ireland’s rising super-welterweight star “King” Callum Walsh (16-0, 11 KOs) continued his unbeaten reign with a dominant points win over world title contender Carlos Ocampo (38-4, 26 KOs) in Las Vegas on Friday, January 23.
The 24-year-old from Cork won with scores of 98-90 x2 and 97-91, but had to overcome a knockdown in round six.
The southpaw landed some big blows during the bout, but he was forced to kop some in return, notably getting caught with the left hook from the big-punching Ocampo.
During an exchange, Walsh was caught with a left hook which caused his gloves to touch the canvas but he didn’t go down. He was visibly disappointed with himself, but showed no signs of being badly hurt.
The Cork combatant got off to a flying start, but struggled to find his flow against a difficult, resilient Ocampo, who was boxing in his 42nd fight.
It was a steady performance from the Irish youngster, who repeatedly scored with his left hook throughout the 10 rounds, but never seemed to be able to put a dent in the teak-tough 30-year-old Mexican.
Post-fight, he reflected on his performance, “I felt very good, compared to the last fight I felt a lot fitter, a lot better over the 10 rounds. Still wasn’t too happy with the performance, but at the end of the day he’s a seasoned veteran, he was very awkward. Bit tougher than I expected.”
Callum Walsh is the reigning WBC Continental Americas super-welterweight champion and his latest win on the first of Zuffa Boxing’s events, titled ‘Z01’, was an impressive advert for the Irishman and for Dana White’s new promotion.Cain “Sugar” Sandoval (17-0, 15 KOs) lost his impressive unbeaten record in the co-feature. The Californian was decisioned widely by Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez (25-1, 15 KOs), 31 from New Jersey.
Zuffa’s next show – Z02 – is coming up fast on Sunday, February 1st, featuring an all-Mexican matchup in the main even between former WBA world super-lightweight champion Jose ‘El Rayo’ Valenzuela (14-3,9 KOs) and once-beaten Diego ‘Azabache’ Torres (22-1, 19 KOs).
