Callum Walsh Wins at Commerce Casino

For several rounds it seemed Ireland’s undefeated Callum Walsh was faced with his toughest foe in Juan Jose Velasco, but then the Argentine suddenly retired in the corner with a whimper on Saturday.

Walsh was apologetic about the confused ending.

“He quit. So sorry,” said Walsh to the crowd.

Still, Walsh (8-0, 7 KOs) the middleweight from Cork, Ireland dazzled the crowd at Commerce Casino with an engaging battle against Velasco (24-5, 15 KOs) on the main event of the 360 Boxing Promotions card. The only thing missing was a man down.

Not in the main event.

Velasco, who formerly fought super lightweight world champion Regis Prograis, showed his veteran skills in absorbing the massive shots from young Walsh. For three rounds the Irish fighter unloaded big blows. During one exchange it was clear Velasco was stunned.

The Argentine fighter erupted in the third round with his own volley of blows. After assessing the young fighter’s power, he decided to go on attack and both fighters connected simultaneously and glared at each other.

Finally, it looked like a real competition.

In the fourth round both fighters dove in for attack and heads clashed. Velasco went down from the collision. Referee Ed Hernandez accurately ruled no knockdown. The fight resumed with Walsh in full attack mode and Velasco looking for an opening to deliver a right hand blast against the southpaw. It did not occur.

Suddenly, the referee visited Velasco’s corner at the end of the round and turned around to signal to the crowd and Walsh’s corner that the fight was over. Walsh was ruled the winner at the end of the fourth round by knockout.

“I want to apologize. It was out of my control,” said Walsh to the crowd about the sudden stoppage. “He quit. We were just getting into it.”

Welterweights

Armenia’s Gor Yeritsyan (16-0, 14 KOs) needed less than three rounds to blast out Philippine’s Rogelio Doliguez (25-5-2) with two body shots that left him unable to beat the count at 24 seconds into the second round of the welterweight match.

Over-the-weight contest

Austria’s Umar Dzambekov (7-0, 6 KOs) was forced to accept overweight Peru’s David Zegarra (35-11-1) who weighed more than 15 pounds over the accepted 175-pound limit. No matter, Dzambekov punished the pudgy Peruvian dropping him twice in the first round before referee Jack Reiss stopped the blowout at 1:59 of the second round.

Super Featherweights

Oxnard’s Arnold Alejandro (12-1, 10 KOs) won an extremely competitive super featherweight clash over Compton’s Adan Ochoa (12-4, 5 KOs) by split decision after eight rounds. All three judges scores were vastly different with two scores favoring Alejandro 80-72 and 77-75. A third judge saw Ochoa 80-72.

It was a back-and-forth contest that saw both fighters make adjustments throughout the eight rounds.

Other Bouts

Riverside’s Daniel “Chucky” Barrera (4-0-1, 3 KOs) was matched against highly experience Gilberto Mendoza (19-16-4) of Modesto and cooly out-fought the veteran behind a stiff left jab and excellent defense. Each round was competitive. After six rounds all three judges scored it 60-54 for Barrera.

Female flyweight Gloria Munguilla (5-0) proved too accurate for Florida’s Shawna Ormsby (0-2-1) after five rounds. Though Ormsby was busy she couldn’t match Munguilla’s accuracy and defense. All three judges scored it for Munguilla 50-45.

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