Callum Walsh | Going To Show Up And Put On A Fight

Walsh had all of the above, but to get to where he wanted to go as a boxer, he had to have some sort of income, so for the Cork native, it was seven days a week on a fishing boat. That might have been tougher than the days in the gym. But was he any good at it?

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“Yeah, I was a good worker,” Walsh said. “The boat I worked on was just me and one other man, so he owned the boat and I didn't, so I was the one that was doing that all the work. (Laughs) So yeah, it definitely taught me hard work.”

He carried that work ethic into the boxing gym, and coupled with his skills, youth and power, the 24-year-old is unbeaten in 14 pro fights and about to battle fellow junior middleweight prospect Fernando Vargas Jr. in the co-main event of the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford card in Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.

Prepping for the big stage! 🥊

Catch @KingCallumWalsh in the #CaneloCrawford co-main event on September 13th!

[ LIVE globally on @Netflix | #RiyadhSeasonCard | @RiyadhSeason ] pic.twitter.com/7pJNGrkF5I

— Zuffa_Boxing (@Zuffa_Boxing) August 28, 2025

If you’re keeping score, that fight is going to be held in front of more than 60,000 fans and aired live and worldwide on Netflix. But Walsh is not rattled in the slightest, despite the magnitude of this moment…and the venue.

“I just went there for a tour,” he said of the home of the Raiders. “So when it was empty, it's crazy. The size of the place is unbelievable. I couldn't imagine fighting there with all those people, but I'm going to be.”

Walsh being on this card has been talked about ever since Alvarez-Crawford was signed, but as with anything in the fight game, it’s not final until it’s final.

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“Yeah, there were rumors of it for a while,” he said. “I was always thinking I would get on there, and then after the last fight with the cut and everything, I wasn't sure. And then when it finally got announced I was like, oh, thank God. It was a relief. Even with the cut, even with how the last fight went, this is a massive opportunity for me and to be fighting a good opponent. It's in front of the world, really. It's going to be a big stage for me to just show my skills and show what I can do.”

The Irishman has always impressed since turning pro in 2021, but in the last year he’s raised the bar with early knockouts over Przemyslaw Runowski and Dean Sutherland in headlining gigs in Dublin’s 3Arena and New York City’s Theater at Madison Square Garden before a technical decision win over Elias Espadas in June. That fight, won by Walsh via identical scores of 50-46, was abbreviated when he suffered a cut over his right eye due to a clash of heads, and while he got the W, the cut was a concern for a bit. But here he is, putting in the rounds in Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym, and he’s chomping at the bit to give the people what they want next month.

They’re putting it all on the line on September 13th 👀

🇮🇪 @KingCallumWalsh vs Fernando Vargas Jr. 🇺🇸

[ #CaneloCrawford is LIVE on @Netflix | 9pmET | #RiyadhSeasonCard | @RiyadhSeason ] pic.twitter.com/mBkHpZ782o

— Zuffa_Boxing (@Zuffa_Boxing) August 20, 2025

As for the stage, that’s not an issue, because he’s already been a headliner used to being the center of attention. 

“It gives me a massive edge with the amount of experience I have, not just as a pro, but even as an amateur,” Walsh said. “I fought on massive stages as an amateur, I won a European gold medal. I fought Russian world champions. I fought all over the world. So being on the big stage doesn't add any pressure for me. I think it'll add a lot of pressure for him, especially carrying his father's name. I think all the pressure is on him to perform and try to be the best he can be, whereas I feel like it's just another fight for me. It's a massive stage, but I don't feel like Fernando Vargas Jr. is the biggest fight of my career. I feel like it's just another steppingstone for me.”

READ: Full Undercard And Broadcast Team Announced For Canelo vs Crawford 

The confidence is there, and it’s never wavered, even when there were those days when most would wonder if the hard work will eventually pay off. Walsh never had those doubts.

“I think I was always confident,” he said. “There was never a stage where I was like, ‘Oh, what am I doing? I'm away from home.’ I never had any fear of what I was doing because realistically, I was just working on a fishing boat back in Ireland and next thing I was in LA trying to make it. But just being here, in general, was better than being on a fishing boat. Even though I was making no money and stuff here, I was still here and I was still training with Freddie Roach. It was always going to happen and all the work I was putting in was going to pay off eventually.”