Callum Walsh Cruises Past Ocampo as Zuffa Boxing Launches in Las Vegas

Callum Walsh Cruises Past Ocampo as Zuffa Boxing Launches in Las Vegas

After years of whispers that Zuffa Boxing was entering the boxing world Callum Walsh, the promotion company’s first star, soundly defeated Mexico’s Carlos Ocampo to mark the debut for the Las Vegas company on Friday.

It was a one-sided win.

“Better competition will bring out a better Callum Walsh,” said Walsh

Ireland’s Walsh (16-0, 11 Kos) who is advised by Dana White, is always on the hunt for the knockout but could not find the mark against Ocampo (38-4, 26 Kos) in their middleweight fight at Meta Apex in Las Vegas.

The Zuffa card took a lot of heat from other promoters for the lack of star power on the inaugural event. Some claimed none of the fighters were recognizable, but that was not accurate.

Many of the fighters on the card had performed many times in Southern California and all had been previously televised. Also, the matchmaker Charles Bosecker did a very strong job pairing the fighters.

Of course, it was the Irish southpaw Walsh who was the primary attraction. He has been on the radar of not only his native Ireland but in Southern California where he has built an avid following with his speed, power and aggressiveness.

Walsh did not disappoint in the aggressiveness department.

In the opening round, Walsh with his bleached blonde hair erupted from the opening bell with potent punches and found Ocampo willing to exchange. Walsh connected immediately and the Mexican fighter responded.

Ocampo had lost only three times and all were against world champions. In many ways this was a measuring stick for Walsh. Could the Irish fighter succeed like Errol Spence Jr. and Tim Tszyu. Or would Walsh be forced to go all 10 rounds as Sebastian Fundora was forced to endure.

Immediately Walsh connected with rocket lefts to the head and right hooks. Ocampo took them all like a sponge and kept fighting all three minutes of the first round.

Phase two was now in place and Walsh was determined to crush Ocampo. Despite clobbering the Mexican fighter he could not make a dent. Round after round Walsh fired and Ocampo endured.

In the sixth round during an exchange of blows Walsh suddenly collapsed to the floor and touched the floor with his glove to maintain balance. It was ruled a knockdown by the referee. Though Walsh had dominated the round that put a charge in Ocampo who found incentive by the ruling.

Ocampo stepped on the gas and began fighting more offensively but Walsh was just too skilled and powerful to allow the Me2xican fighter to rally effectively. Blows were landed by each fighter, but Walsh kept the advantage until the end of the match.

All three judges favored Walsh 98-90 twice and 97-91.

“I feel a lot better I feel I’ve improved. But getting the 10 rounds is good. It’s getting tougher and tougher,” said Walsh citing the better competition. “I was very happy with my conditioning.”

Zuffa’s head honcho Dana White was pleased with the results of their debut.

“We want to make boxing more fun,” said White. “There were lots of great fights tonight.”

Other Bouts

Mexico’s Misael Rodriguez (16-0, 8 Kos) won by technical knockout over Austin Deanda (17-1, 11 Kos) to win the battle between undefeated middleweights.

Rodriguez, an Olympic bronze medalist, was too experienced for Deanda who had no amateur experience. It was obvious that despite power and youth it was not enough against Rodriguez extensive experience.

After getting dissected by Rodriguez the fighter from West Virginia had problems with his vision after absorbing heavy blows. The match was stopped at the end of the fourth round.

“Expectations are high representing Mexico,” said Rodriguez. “I’m very happy about this opportunity and with a great company.”

Welters

Even before the contentious weighins a day earlier, many expected Julian Rodriguez and Cain Sandoval to display a crowd-pleasing performance and they did not disappoint.

Rodriguez (25-1, 15 Kos) used sharper punching, movement and a lot of clinching to walk away with the decision over Sandoval (17-1, 15 Kos) and hand him the first loss as a pro.

It took Sandoval several rounds to get into a groove and by that time Rodriguez was allowed to hit and hold the rest of the fight without penalty. Sandoval kept pushing forward and firing volleys but the pot shots by Rodriguez were too obvious to ignore for the judges. Though Rodriguez looked the worse for wear he won big according to the judges 99-91 twice and 98-92

Despite the caustic exchanges a day earlier, both were gracious after the fight.

“I’m a professional I know when I win the fight clean, but he’s a f….ng dog,” said Rodriguez adding that he feels for Sandoval’s daughter who has cancer. “I want everyone to send prayers to Sandoval’s family.”

Rodriguez has won back-to-back fights against undefeated fighters. Last June he knocked out Avious Griffin.

The New Jersey fighter said Sandoval’s pressure gave him problems and he had to adjust.

“It’s overcoming adversity. He made some adjustments and putting on more pressure and I had to make adjustments as well,” Rodriguez said. “He’s tough. He has a giant friggin head that guy. I’m still learning.”

Featherweights

East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (20-0-2, 14 Kos) knocked down Max Ornelas (17-3-1, 6 Kos) three times in the first three rounds but needed seven more to punish him and force a stoppage by the referee due to a shoulder dislocation.

Trinidad scored the first knockdown with a stiff left jab as Ornelas was firing a right hand in the second round. In the third round Trinidad dropped Ornelas twice and it looked like the end was near. It was not.

Ornelas began to move and counter and effectively kept Trinidad from loading up and delivering the coup de gras. But the beatings overall continued and eventually the body of Ornelas broke down as he suffered a dislocated shoulder. He kept fighting with the bum arm but in the final round referee Thomas Taylor saw enough and halted the one-sided match in favor of Trinidad.

Prelims

Las Vegas fighter Floyd Diaz (14-0, 3 Kos) remained undefeated by unanimous decision over Texas Guillermo Gutierrez (13-3) after eight rounds in a bantamweight match. Diaz and Gutierrez were evenly matched with Diaz able to score more convincingly than Gutierrez.

Diaz had been inactive for more than a year.

Emiliano Cardenas (10-0, 4 KOs) won by unanimous decision over Marcus Harris (7-2, 5 Kos) in a crackling bantamweight fight. Cardenas, who trains with Robert Garcia, used a busier attacking approach to break through the careful counter-punching style of Harris. Both fighters had their moments, but Cardenas was the much busier fighter.

No knockdowns in the match. Two judges scored it 60-54 and won 58-56 for Cardenas.

Robert Meriwether (10-0, 4 Kos) defeated Cesar Correa (5-1) by easily beating him to the punch to jump ahead early, but Correa showed off a good chin and managed to use combination punches to the body to keep from being overrun by the faster fighter.

During the latter half of the match Correa’s ability to take a punch seemed to take the confidence away from Meriwether who won by unanimous decision after six rounds.

A battle between undefeated super featherweights saw Troy Nash (6-0-1) win by decision after six rounds versus Jaycob Ramos (4-1). Despite the wide scores of two of the judges, the fight was much closer with Ramos attacking the body and Nash connecting with rights to the head.

The judges gave Ramos no credit for the body punches landed. No knockdowns were scored with two judges giving Nash 59-55 scores and another a more reasonable 58-56.

Both fighters made decent adjustments in the six-round contest.

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