Callum Walsh is only 12 fights into an unblemished professional career, but he is already being touted as a world champion in waiting.
The 24-year-old from Cork is brimming with talent and has surrounded himself with an all-star team that has a track record of guiding fighters to the top.
His promoter, Tom Loeffler, helped shape the careers of Gennady Golovkin and the Klitschko brothers – Vitali and Wladimir.
Meanwhile, he is backed by UFC president Dana White and trains with Manny Pacquiao‘s legendary coach, Freddie Roach, at the Wild Card Gym.
Walsh, who has been boxing since the age of six, first walked into the Los Angeles sweat box when he was 15 and returned five years later to turn pro after he was robbed of his Olympic dream by the Covid-19 outbreak.
“When I first visited Wildcard, I got a picture with Freddie, and I got a shirt from there, and I went back to Cork training, and I always had this shirt which I looked at all the time,” he told talkSPORT.com.
“Then I was in between qualifying for the Olympics when I was 18, and that’s when Covid happened, and it shut down the tournament and everything else.
“So when I was 19, I decided to go to LA to train, but Ireland was a restricted country by the US, so I had to go to Mexico for a couple of weeks.
“I turned 20 in Mexico, and then that’s when I flew to LA, showed up to Freddie’s gym and knocked on the door to ask him if he could train me.”
He was given a baptism of fire on his first day, sparring highly-rated welterweight contender Blair Cobbs.
Walsh more than held his own, and Roach took the Irishman under his wing thereafter.
That spar and the gruelling round that followed at the Wild Card Gym have shaped Walsh into a spiteful super welterweight who is just as comfortable exchanging leather in the pocket as he is boxing and moving on the outside.
“It is crazy,” Walsh said of Wild Card’s famous sparring. “That’s what has made me the fighter that I am.
“You don’t get to go over there and say, ‘I’m going to spar with this guy, or I am going to spar this many rounds.’
“If Freddie tells you that you are sparring this many rounds or you are sparring this world champion here, then you are doing it.
“You never know who is going to turn up at the gym. Today, I’m turning up to the gym now, and there could be anybody waiting in there for me, and that is the best thing about Wildcard.
“It is all in house sparring. You don’t have to pay for sparring partners. Everybody there is looking for sparring all the time.
“I’ve sparred absolutely everybody. I’ve sparred fighters like Elvis Rodriguez, who is there all the time, Eimantas Stanionis, Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk, Gabe Rosado, like everybody you can think of, I have sparred.”
So prolific is his sparring that Walsh believes he’s already shared the ring with his upcoming opponent, Dean Sutherland.
GettyWalsh takes on Sutherland this Sunday[/caption]
“He actually trained at the Wild Card Gym when I was there a few months ago,” Walsh said of Sutherland.
“Someone said we sparred, but I don’t really remember that, to be honest.
“I’ve sparred so many fighters it hard to keep up. But I’ve seen a few highlights of him.
“From what I have seen, he looks like a come-forward fighter and has an exciting style, so I think me and him will put on a good main event.”
The pair are set to square off at the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York on Sunday – one day before St. Patrick’s Day.
Six Irish fighters, including Walsh, will feature on the card, which is being broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass.
Walsh has been fighting on the MMA streaming service since the start of his career, thus catching the eye of company president White, who has been singing his praises at every opportunity.
“I don’t even know what his official role is, but I know he’s definitely on board 100 per cent to help my career,” Walsh said of White.
“He and Freddie have a good relationship, and then he and Tom were working on putting boxing on UFC Fight Pass.
“So that’s how the relationship came through Tom. They were working on a deal, and then Tom had just signed me, so he brought me to Vegas to meet Dana.
“Freddie then talked to Dana about me and said that he I was one of the best young fighters he’s ever seen.
“That made Dana believe in me, and now he wants to help me win a world title.”
Walsh’s handlers believe their client can reach the very top of the sport, but he will have to get through regional-level pros like Sutherland without issue if he hopes to fulfil those lofty expectations.
