By James Blears
Prodigious 22-year-old “King” Callum Walsh (8-0, 7 KO’s) successfully defended his WBC Americas Silver Super welterweight Belt for the first time, at the Commerce Casino, California, topping the 360 Promotions Hollywood Fight Nights Series on UFC Fight Pass.
Callum from Cork and now based with International Hall of Fame Coach Freddie Roach at the Wild Card gym, overwhelmed experienced Juan Jose Velasco (24-5, 15 KO’s) from Buenos Aires. So much so that Juan Jose’s corner told the Referee Edward Hernandez that he wasn’t continuing the bout, after the fourth round.
Tom Loeffler of 360 Promotions says it’s a ten out ten performance from southpaw Callum, who showed poise, maturity, patience, defence and exquisite ringcraft beyond his years in his best fight so far. At six feet tall, with a seventy two inch reach, the Irishman from Cork, towered over the Argentine. Tom said: “Callum has got a big frame and he uses every part of that frame. He gets leverage and being a young guy, he’s able to stay at that weight and use all of that power that he has.
“Impressive body punching and a lot of that has to do with Freddie working on the professional style reinforcing all of the amateur experience Callum gained. Freddie is perfectly suited to lead this charge in the professional ranks. Callum also feinted a number of times and that really opened up the guard. Callum has this wide variety and caliber of punches he can throw. This was definitely his most impressive performance, but we can also see that the higher the caliber of the opposition the better performance that Callum turns in and that’s what you want to see with a young fighter, rather than levelling out when the opposition gets better.”
Plan is to bring Callum back East for his next fight, which will be in November. The hope and aim and plan in the pipeline, is to try to get Callum to grace the MSG Theater. If this could happen, Madison Square Garden would be a pre-Christmas treat, especially for all of his Irish/American fans, those who will make the trip accross “The Pond” to cheer him on plus his growing fanbase, right across the board.
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