Callum Walsh used to work in Ireland as a fisherman seven days a week before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming a professional boxer.
Walsh, 22, was a six-time Irish national champion in his youth but his fighting career came to a standstill when Covid-19 closed down his local boxing gyms. The youngster jetted off to California to train at the Wildcard Boxing Gym and quickly struck up a relationship with world-renowned trainer Freddie Roach.
Taking a gamble on himself, Walsh decided to ditch his day job to turn professional and has since gone unbeaten in seven fights with six of those wins coming by knockout. The Irish prospect admitted to having no intentions of turning professional, but that changed when he was able to hold his own with top-level fighters in sparring.
"When I was living here in Cobh, I was working seven days a week on a fishing boat hauling pots," Walsh told Mirror Fighting . "I would work all day and then train in the evening then if I had a fight on the weekend, I would take a day off to fight then come back and work the next day. I still didn't know what I was going to do, I was just working to get some money.
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"I was boxing because that's all I knew what to do, I've been training since 6 years old. I was working seven days a week just to afford the insurance for my car to drive to training. It was hard but I kept up and stayed with it. A lot of people think 'Oh I can't get to the gym tonight, I'll go out with the boys' but I just stuck with it my whole life and it paid off."
Most of Walsh's professional bouts have taken place for Hollywood Fight Nights, a promotion that is aired on UFC Fight Pass. Walsh has since formed a good relationship with UFC boss Dana White as one of his main sponsors is Howler Head, the UFC's official whiskey partner.
Having also trained with UFC legends such as Tony Ferguson and Georges St-Pierre, the Irishman is open to crossing over to MMA later in his career. Walsh even bumped into his countryman Conor McGregor at a UFC event in March and was stunned that he didn't even have to introduce himself as the former two-weight champion already knew who he was.
"In an ideal world I would win as many belts as I can and become one of the biggest names in boxing, then go to the UFC and fight somebody. A lot of MMA fighters are going to boxing but there's not a lot of boxers that want to get in the cage. I feel like I could be one of the only ones that could get in there and maybe be successful," he added.
