Callum Walsh survives knockdown, coasts to decision victory

Most observers were expecting a fairly easy fight for Callum Walsh in the co-feature as he took on Tyler Denny, a fighter who entered the ring with a 21-4-3 record and just one career win by knockout. Despite the favorable circumstances for the rising Irish star, he hit a bit of a speed bump in the opening round.

After largely controlling the action in the opening frame, Walsh bent at the waist and stopped fighting, seemingly waiting for the referee to intervene after Denny had pushed him down with his forearm. Instead, Denny let a barrage of punches fly, tagging Walsh until Walsh reached down and touched the canvas, making for an official knockdown.

Walsh was not badly affected by the situation and came right back to score a big knockdown off a counter shot in Round 2.

Walsh was able to mostly remain in control from that point, though he never came close to scoring the stoppage. In fact, the fight was a pretty ugly one, falling into a pattern of constant holding in between jabs.

The holding led to point deductions for both men in Round 8, a round that also saw Walsh cut around the left eye after an accidental clash of heads.

At the end of a fight that never lived up to the excitement of the first two rounds, Walsh was awarded the win on the official judges’ scorecards by scores of 98-91, 98-91 and 96-90.

It’s unclear where Walsh, Zuffa Boxing’s first “big signing” and a long-time project of Dana White, will go after the victory. It’s natural to think he would be matched with McKenna in an all-Irish title showdown of Zuffa fighters, but it’s also natural to think his performance against a lower-caliber opponent like Denny may show that he’s not quite at the championship level at this point in his career.