Callum Walsh: ‘I wasn’t happy with my camp. I wasn’t happy with anything really’

UFC CEO and President Dana White congratulates Callum Walsh after the fight. Pic: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

For the very first time, Callum Walsh was wrestling with a rare phenomenon. 

The 24-year-old Cork boxer has 15 bouts in the paid ranks but, somewhere at the back of his mind, there was a new and unfamiliar presence: doubt.

Last September, Walsh overcame Fernando Vargas on the co-main event of the blockbuster Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford card. The Cobh native was involved in one of the biggest fights of the year but left feeling dissatisfied with his display.

“I wasn’t happy with the performance,” he says now, ahead of his next bout in Las Vegas on January 23.

“I wasn’t happy with my camp. I wasn’t happy with anything really leading up to the fight. It showed in the ring. It showed I wasn’t prepared as well as I could have been. I made a lot of changes in my camp. Big changes.

“I think it will really show in this next fight. I feel 100 percent better than I was four or five months ago. I feel like I am improving and definitely ready to go in and perform for this next fight. I understand I need to go in there and make a big statement after that last performance.” 

Walsh will take on Carlos Ocampo (38-3, 26 KOs) in the main event of the new Zuffa Boxing venture. It is the brainchild of UFC CEO Dana White, who has been a constant supporter of the Irish junior middleweight. 

Zuffa Boxing have ambitious plans to revolutionise the sport with the help of their financial and strategic partner, Turki Alalshikh.

A new platform, a new approach.

“I’m not training at Wild Card anymore. I decided to move around for this camp, get a new look. I am still using Wild Card coaches but I have taken a bit of a different approach for this camp,” he explains.

“I'm just, taking control of my career now. I don't want to let that happen again, I want to go in there 100 percent prepared for every fight.” 

Turki Alalshikh is the Saudi adviser driving the Gulf state’s entry into multiple sports over recent years. Accusations of sportswashing have so far been unable to derail their ultimate goal: crush everything.

That is what Alalshikh said plainly was what the new boxing league would do. The age-old problem of too many titles at too many weights is out, a UFC model with one belt is in.

“Zuffa Boxing will be something that will change boxing for the better,” argues Walsh. His relationship with White will alter because of it.

“To be the first is massive. I think it doesn’t change much but now I am just one of the fighters. I feel like Dana was involved in my career because it was fun for him, he was involved with sponsorship and getting involved in boxing but now he has his organisation. This is it.

“It’s like the UFC. I am just one of the fighters now. Obviously, until I win the belt and become one of the household names, but I feel like right now, I am one of the fighters. It is a good thing. I have to go in there and work hard like everyone else, make my name again.” 

The revolution will be televised. Stateside, the card will stream live on Paramount+. In recent weeks, reports have emerged of negotiations between White and Sky Sports for a new broadcast deal.

As for Walsh, he wants it to pave the way for his own homecoming too. The dream of a Cork show still lingers. 

He points to how the UFC platform local fighters when they travel to major cities. White was ringside for the 3Arena show in 2024.

“I would like to think it would be like that. Go to Ireland, put on a show, like we did when we went to Dublin, we put on a full Irish card,” he says.

These are significant times for the sport. Irish super-featherweight star Anthony Cacace will challenge English world champion Jazza Dickens for the WBA world title at the 3Arena in March. Dublin’s Pierce O’Leary takes on Mark Chamberlain on the co-main event.

Irish boxing is beginning to edge back into the mainstream.

“We are getting very close. Katie is coming to the end of her career but someone who is such a big name, it is hard to overtake. Every time Katie fights, that is the thing. I feel like now we are getting closer. There are up-and-coming fighters from Ireland, I think we have some of the best fighters in the world. It is just a matter of showing it, having those big moments.”