Callum Walsh will fight for just the ninth time as a professional Thursday night in New York.
The Irish southpaw’s opponent, Ismael Villarreal, has displayed power, but he is not ranked in the top 15 among junior middleweight contenders by the IBF, WBA, WBC or WBO. Walsh’s Hall-of-Fame trainer nevertheless believes that his ambitious 22-year-old prospect will accomplish one of his lofty goals within the next year.
“He’s definitely getting ready [to fight] a top-10 guy,” Freddie Roach told BoxingScene.com. “And somewhere in the next year, he will be a world champion. I’m going fast with him because he welcomes it.”
Walsh wants to take the fastest path possible toward a 154-pound world title shot. The accomplished amateur has been matched accordingly, most recently against Argentinean veteran Juan Jose Velasco (24-5, 15 KOs), whom Walsh (8-0, 7 KOs) stopped after the fourth round of a one-sided main event August 26 at The Commerce Casino & Hotel in Commerce, California.
Velasco is 36, though, and mostly competed as a junior welterweight and welterweight in nine years as a pro. Villarreal (13-1, 9 KOs) is 10 years younger than Velasco, a natural junior middleweight and the 26-year-old Bronx native has lost only a debatable 10-round split decision to unbeaten southpaw Ardreal Holmes (14-0, 5 KOs) on February 17 in Topeka, Kansas.
“He’s a strong kid,” Roach said of Villarreal. “He’s a good puncher. But I’m really not worried about that. I was downstairs wrapping [Walsh’s] hands and I asked him, ‘Did you watch the tape on your opponent last night?’ He said, ‘I don’t need to watch tape. I’m gonna knock this f***** out!’ ”
Walsh’s confidence is understandable based on the ease with which he has won his first eight professional fights. He’ll try to extend his knockout streak to five versus Villarreal in a main event UFC Fight Pass will stream from The Theater at Madison Square Garden .
“He’s a very good puncher and he’s starting to sit down on all his shots,” Roach said of Walsh, who is a very effective body puncher. “When he came here he said, ‘I didn’t come here to win a state title. I came here to win a world title.’ ”
Walsh arrived unannounced at Roach’s renowned Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California 2½ years ago, during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cork’s Walsh intended to represent Ireland at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but he decided to turn pro due to the disruption of his amateur career.
Tom Loeffler, Walsh’s promoter, has kept him busy since he made his pro debut in December 2021. His fight with Villarreal will be his ninth in less than two years and his most important from a promotional standpoint because Loeffler’s plan is to make the young knockout artist a consistent attraction in The Theater and eventually the significantly larger Madison Square Garden.
“It’s very important,” Roach said in reference to Walsh’s activity. “I love when guys have a lotta fights. I remember by the second year I was a pro I fought 11 times. Activity is the best thing in the world.”
Dana White, CEO and president of UFC, has also been supportive of Walsh’s ascent in the junior middleweight division. The seven-bout card headlined by Walsh-Villarreal will take place two days before UFC 295 will be held at Madison Square Garden.
Part of the Walsh-Villarreal undercard is scheduled to start streaming on www.ufcfightpass.com, which costs $9.99 per month, at 8 p.m. EDT.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.