Gavan Casey

CALLUM WALSH IS at a safe remove from the wildfires ravaging his adopted hometown of Los Angeles.

“Everybody I know is safe, thank God,” says the Cork boxer. “I’ve seen a lot of videos and people’s [Instagram] stories and stuff, the photos… It’s crazy.”

But Walsh, who lives in the Hollywood area, is preparing to drive toward the smoke when he jumps on a Zoom call with The 42 on Wednesday morning local time.

Freddie Roach’s Wild Card gym lies in the wrong direction, albeit still at a comfortable distance from the carnage. And Walsh has work.

The 23-year-old Cobh native, world-ranked in boxing’s light-middleweight division, will cross coasts to cooler surrounds in just over two months’ time when he again headlines at Madison Square Garden’s 5,000-capacity downstairs venue.

The 42 can confirm that Walsh [12-0, 10KOs] will face Scotland’s Dean Sutherland [19-1, 7KOs] in the main event of an Irish-stacked 360 Promotions card on the Sunday of St Patrick’s Weekend.

The bout, which will be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass, will make for Walsh’s third time headlining at The Theater in 18 months. If LA is home away from home, then New York is fast becoming his home away from home away from home.

“I’m looking forward to getting back there,” Walsh says. “Every time, it’s unbelievable. The Irish crowd is growing bigger — bigger and better, you know?

“Even with my last fight in Dublin, I think I really got a feel for the level that it’s at now. I think it was just under 5,000 people at the 3Arena but it felt like 20,000 people, y’know? When I walked out and everybody was singing and the whole place was going crazy… That’s the best thing with the Irish crowd: we bring that energy and we support each other, so that’s something I hope we can keep going, and I hope people will want to come to another one.

“I know it’s expensive for people to get out to New York — and especially right after Christmas — but hopefully a lot of people can make it and we can just keep it going. And hopefully I’ll get back to Cork, then, maybe next year.”

Trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, promoted by Tom Loeffler and considered a passion project by UFC president Dana White, Walsh has for a long time been a headline act well ahead of schedule.

His homecoming show in Dublin saw him become only the fourth boxer in 15 years after Bernard Dunne, Katie Taylor and Matthew Macklin to carry a show at the 3Arena but whereas those three predecessors were already world-title level veterans, Walsh was entrusted with the mantle in only his 12th professional fight.

The Cork youngster is beginning to wear it well. While he acknowledges that his opponents are going to keep getting tougher, he finds the ring-walks are getting easier as he grows accustomed to being the main man in a fight promotion.

There is increasingly a muscle memory to the whole process and Walsh believes it’s beginning even to apply to his physical skills. His picturesque September knockout of Przemyslaw Runowksi — who had never previously been stopped — felt different in that Walsh barely felt it at all.

“Before the fight in Dublin, Freddie and I were actually practicing that shot out the back for probably 20 minutes,” Walsh laughs.

“When I landed that left hand, I wasn’t even thinking about it: it just happened, y’know? It was just like… I didn’t plan to land that shot, I wasn’t even thinking about anything. It just happened, purely from training. And I suppose a lot of it is being relaxed in the fight, being able to remain calm under pressure.

“I felt like that night was a a big opportunity for me to show that — that the pressure doesn’t get to me. There was a big crowd there, all eyes were on me, everyone was expecting a big performance from me and all that, and I did it.”

Walsh apologises as he adjusts his phone and moves out of earshot of the whistling African grey parrot that belongs to his girlfriend, Tabatha Ricci.

He’s definitely a long way from Cobh.

Incidentally, Walsh and Ricci have a rare relationship in that they’re both professional fighters: Brazilian Ricci, nicknamed ‘Baby Shark’, is a mixed martial arts star with the UFC, the organisation which also effectively co-promotes Walsh’s boxing career.

After Walsh’s homecoming bout in September, he was scheduled to take six months off after a busy opening chapter to his life as a prizefighter. But when your girlfriend has to make the UFC’s strawweight limit in November, downtime takes on a different complexion.

“In general, it makes life a lot easier, to be fair”, Walsh smiles, “because it’s like, if I’m not training for a fight but she is, I’m not just going to sit around and do nothing, y’know?

“I can’t just sit here and watch her train, or I’m not gonna eat shit food if she’s eating all healthy, you know what I mean?

“It’s just that thing where you’d actually feel bad about yourself, then,” Walsh laughs. “If I was just here by myself, I wouldn’t give a fuck because obviously you’re not seeing it, but when you see someone else training, eating healthy, and then you’re doing nothing and eating like shit, you’re like, ‘Alright, I need to do something about this!’

“Going back-to-back with our fights like we did in September and November is better because even if I’m not fully in training for a fight, I’m still going for a run, my meals are still clean. I mean, she cooks food and then, like, obviously I’m just gonna eat whatever’s there.”

It’s not a bad deal, all told — but does it become competitive?

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘competitive’”, Walsh smirks, “because, like… Look, I wouldn’t be happy losing a sprint to a girl who’s five-foot-one when I’m around six foot tall, for starters.

“But nah, say because I’m a faster runner, she has to run faster to keep up with me when we run together, y’know? And then, Tabatha’s a better swimmer than I am, so when we go swimming, I have to try to keep up with her.

“So, one of us is nearly always gonna be better than the other at something and if you’re training with someone like that, you have to make yourself better or you’re in for a hard time.”

Walsh’s card in March will have a distinctly green hue to it: the eagerly anticipated super-middleweight rematch between Dublin’s Tokyo Olympian Emmet Brennan [5-0, 1KO] and Kerry’s ‘Kingdom Warrior’ Kevin Cronin [9-2-1, 5KOs] will go down in The Big Apple over 10 rounds after Brennan controversially squeaked their initial eight-round bout on the undercard of Walsh’s homecoming.

Big Thomas Carty [10-0, 9KOs] will take the party to Pennsylvania Plaza, too: the Dublin heavyweight will take on Ohio’s Dajuan Calloway [10-3, 8KOs].

Tyrone’s world-title challenger Feargal McCrory [16-1, 8KOS], meanwhile, who lost out to super-featherweight champion Lamont Roach last June, will launch his comeback in his adopted hometown when he faces Brandon Leon Benitez [21-3, 9KOs].

There will also be a professional debut for Co. Down featherweight Donagh Keary, a former amateur standout whose first opponent in the paid ranks is yet to be confirmed.

Tom Loeffler’s Walsh-Sutherland show will be the cherry on top of a marquee March for Irish boxing, a month which will begin with one of the biggest domestic meetings of the modern era as Belfast welterweight Lewis Crocker [20-0, 11KOs] hosts Limerick rival Paddy Donovan [14-0, 11KOs] in a Matchroom main event at the SSE Arena.

Either man could one day cross Walsh’s radar in that they campaign only a division — or seven pounds — below him. But when Crocker and Donovan first look to blot each other’s copybooks on 1 March, Walsh says his loyalty will lie firmly with his fellow Munsterman.

“It’ll be a good fight, definitely. Really good fight,” he says. “I only know Paddy out of the two of them — I know him from when we were younger when we were coming through the amateurs and I’d know his dad and his brother Edward very well.

“I’ll be rooting for Paddy and hopefully he does the job.”

Walsh, of course, has a potentially worthy Belfast adversary at his own weight class in the shape of Caoimhín Agyarko [15-0, 7KOs].

Towards the end of 2024, rumours began to circulate of discussions between the boxers’ camps with a view to staging a fight between them at MSG in March.

“But nah, someone just made that up,” Walsh laughs. “You know that fight was never even offered to me?

“Someone just made it up, there, one day I think and it got pushed around. And I don’t know who started it but I remember seeing the rumours and asking Tom (promoter), ‘Is this happening or what’s the story?’ And no, the fight wasn’t offered to me at all.

“And sure you know me: if it had been, I’d be preparing for that fight right now.”

Instead, it will be 26-year-old Aberdeen native ‘Deadly’ Dean Sutherland, fresh off a decent derby win of his own, who will seek to derail Walsh’s ascent.

But that doesn’t factor into Walsh’s plans.

“Last year was about ‘building the brand’, getting home and getting a fight in Ireland and just, y’know, trying to show Irish people the scale of what I’m trying to do; showing people that it’s not all just internet hype,” he says.

“This year, I’m gonna be 24 — I’m not just some youngfella, now, anymore. I feel like I’m maturing into a contender.

“I just want to give this everything I have and really, by the end of the year, be a top-level fighter, become a known name around the boxing scene.

“I’m just gonna dedicate more than I have been, I’m gonna push myself harder, I’m gonna take any fight that comes my way and just hope for the big opportunities to come.

“And when it comes, I’m going to grab it with both hands and take what I believe is mine: the world title.”

Pre-sale tickets for Walsh v Sutherland are available at 2pm Irish time today, 9 January, via Ticketmaster. General sale will begin at 5pm next Monday, 13 January.