Callum Walsh has held onto his favorite Las Vegas memory for more than three years.
Unlike most boxers, it has nothing at all to do with the sport.
“I remember after my third fight, I paid for my brothers and cousins to take a trip to Vegas,” Walsh told Uncrowned. “It was a cool weekend, though we got kicked out of The Venetian because my cousin jumped into their lake that goes underneath [The Grand Canal]. My cousin decided to go jump in for a swim.
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“So yeah, that’s my favorite memory of Vegas … so far.”
The odds suggest that the top spot on his personal list will change in a matter of days.
Ireland’s Walsh (14-0, 11 KOs) has been afforded prime real estate for his Vegas debut. The 24-year-old southpaw will face second-generation boxer Fernando Vargas Jr. (17-0, 15 KOs) this Saturday at Allegiant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders and also the venue’s first foray into boxing.
Walsh vs. Vargas serves as the chief support to the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford superfight, which airs live on Netflix. The event will mark the first full-blown boxing venture for Zuffa Boxing, headed by Dana White whose UFC Fight Pass has served as the streaming platform for nearly Walsh’s entire pro career.
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To date, the bulk of Walsh’s career has taken place in California, beginning with his December 2021 pro debut. The first five fights of his career were held at the Quiet Cannon Country Club in Montebello, where he immediately became a draw after having quickly developed a strong support system.
Walsh arrived in the U.S. with his father from Ireland in early 2021. It was during the heart of the pandemic, which dashed his hopes of representing Ireland in the delayed Tokyo Olympics. Gyms in Ireland were shut down due to COVID restrictions, which left a then 20-year-old amateur forced to hit the road.
That journey led him to Hollywood’s iconic Wild Card Boxing Club, headed by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. Walsh stood, a single luggage bag in one hand as he knocked on the door with the other.
It was a moment that would change his life; however, merely the first step toward where he is today.
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“People see where my career is at now — headlining shows in [California], New York, Boston, Ireland — in just 14 pro fights and think it all happened so quickly,” noted Walsh. “But I’ve been fighting since I was 6, so we worked very hard at this from that young age, fighting at the top level as an amateur.
“Even training with Freddie, that was for nearly a full year before I made my pro debut.”
It came shortly after Walsh signed with 360 Promotions, headed by Tom Loeffler — one of the last real promoters left in the U.S. boxing scene.
Callum Walsh celebrates with his trainer Freddie Roach, Dickie Ecklund (R) and Tom Loeffler (L) after defeating Przemyslaw Runowski on Sept. 20, 2024, at the 3Arena in Dublin.
(David Fitzgerald via Getty Images)
Loeffler cut his teeth with the Klitschko brothers throughout their respective Hall of Fame careers. His greatest work came with the meteoric rise of two-time middleweight champ Gennadiy Golovkin, as well as helping transform Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez into a household name among U.S. audiences.
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Of course, he was blessed with the support of HBO for much of that time. The cable giant bowed out of the sport in 2018. Fittingly, Loeffler served as the lead promoter for its final act, but was also forced to basically rebuild his empire.
His company had already launched its Hollywood Fight Night series, which initially ran out of The Avalon in Hollywood. Like everyone else, Loeffler and his company were hit hard by the pandemic, and also without a platform deal once it was time to get his fighters back in the ring.
That changed, both through his signing of Walsh and a friendship with White. Those combined parts led to the UFC Fight Pass deal that 360 Promotions has held since 2022 and which continues to produce the platform’s most streamed shows — particularly when Walsh headlines, which has been all but one of his 14 pro fights.
“I had a mutual friend who made the introduction with Dana, and we stayed in touch through the pandemic,” Loeffler told Uncrowned. “Dana goes way back with Freddie Roach through their Boston days. I told Dana that we signed this promising Irish fighter, Callum Walsh, and he’s training with Freddie.
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“With Callum being Irish and Dana’s success that he had with Conor McGregor and the Irish fans, he gave us the green light for the UFC Fight Pass dates.”
Walsh has more than held up his end of the bargain in that arrangement. Each of his first three bouts all ended inside of two minutes, and he stopped or dropped all of his first eight pro opponents, barely losing a round in the process.
Included in that run was his debut in Boston, where he knocked out Wesley Tucker in the second round of a 2023 St. Patrick’s Day-themed show.
It was the starting point of a tradition that is now three years running, with the 2024 and 2025 editions taking place at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City. Walsh has headlined three times overall at the venue, beginning with a 10-round, unanimous decision over Ismael Villareal in November 2023.
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“Callum is one of the fastest rising stars in boxing,” said Loeffler. “He’s headlined at Madison Square Garden [Theater] three times — most fighters dream of fighting there just once, and he’s repeatedly main-eventing at the prospect stage of his career.
“He’s headlined at 3Arena in Dublin, and in Boston. Callum’s handled the stardom well and absorbs everything that Freddie teaches him as a boxer. His rise in the sport really couldn’t have come at a better time, if you see what’s going on in [boxing].”
Walsh long ago emerged as a favorite of White, who has built a marketing giant with UFC but — while a huge boxing fan — is selective when it comes to the boxers he chooses to endorse.
Fittingly, White’s previous favorite was Golovkin, though he was able to enjoy his career as a fan. However, he made a point to directly invest his celebrity credit card into Walsh.
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“He’s a great kid and has a really fun fighting style,” White said of the budding contender. “On a personal level, I liked the kid as soon as I was introduced to him [by Loeffler]. I pride myself [in UFC] in delivering competitive fights, and the great thing about him is that he’s always willing to take on those tough fights that the fans really want to see.”
That very mentality played a major role in Walsh landing the co-feature slot on boxing’s biggest event of the year.
It’s a path he’s always envisioned for himself — though the help he’s had along the way was something that never entered even his wildest dreams.
“That would never be an idea in my head,” Walsh admitted of having White, Roach and Loeffler playing a pivotal role throughout his young career. “But it’s how it happened, thanks to Tom Loeffler and 360 Promotions. Tom just signed me, an Irish fighter who he wanted to introduce to Dana, since they were working on a deal for boxing on UFC Fight Pass.
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“I still remember my first meeting with Dana. It was actually my 21st birthday. It’s still surreal to me. Dana White has built this massive UFC model, this brand that it’s become, and I have that actual person helping my career, saying my name. It gives you a massive boost. I wouldn’t be where I am without Tom and Dana getting behind my career.”
Given that, the chance to face Vargas was accepted no sooner than the familiar boxing name was even offered to him.
Walsh enters the battle of unbeaten super welterweights as a -275 favorite, according to BetMGM sportsbook. It’s his most competitive matchup to date — on-paper and from a betting perspective — but not the only tough test he’s taken on the way up the ranks.
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In his last fight, Walsh took on Elias Espadas — a veteran spoiler who held unbeaten and heavily-favored Sadriddin Akhmedov to a draw in April. Just two months later, the Manny Robles-trained Mexican bruiser was brought in to test Walsh’s fighting heart.
The only disappointment from the June 21 main event was the fight’s ending. A deep cut over Walsh’s right eye from a head clash forced the bout to be stopped just one second into the fifth round. Walsh won every full round on all three scorecards but was disappointed with the anticlimactic finish.
By that point, news had broken of Alvarez vs. Crawford and that White would take the promotional lead thanks to his newfound partnership with boxing financier Turki Alalshikh. Walsh was committed to landing on the show and used his platform on UFC Fight Pass to formally welcome a showdown with Vargas, regardless of the stakes or positioning on the mega-event.
“A lot of young fighters don’t take these risks,” Walsh accurately noted. “These fights, you don’t see too often. It’s rare these days to see prospects 14-0 and 17-0 with the names that Fernando Vargas Jr. and I have, facing each other this early, especially on this big stage.
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“Both of us want to stay undefeated.”
That said, there is a big difference between fighting to stay undefeated and maneuvering to protect an unbeaten record, the latter of which has long plagued the sport’s past couple of generations.
Walsh much rather prefers to earn his unblemished record. That mentality, coupled with a matchup like this on a blockbuster event without a pay-per-view price tag, should see Walsh quickly become a known commodity even among casual sports fans.
Naturally, he is up for the challenge and the pressure that comes with performing on such a stage. While the team surrounding him is something beyond his wildest dreams, arriving at this very moment has always been the goal.
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“I have always felt like I was destined for greatness,” insists Walsh. “Having goals like that always drove me to work hard and be as successful as I am today. My belief was that as long as I had that in my mind, it would lead to the big fights and the big paydays.
“My support system makes me feel invincible. I have the best team in the sport. With so many people around me handling my business with my best interests at heart, I have the easy part — all I have to do is go in there and win fights.”
That — and make sure he and his team get to enjoy all that Vegas has to offer without having their hotel stay revoked.
“No funny business this time,” Walsh promised. “This isn’t a holiday; my goal is to make sure my goal is to make sure my fight is the one everyone’s talking about at the end of the night.”
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