LAS VEGAS – Callum Walsh sought to make his Zuffa Boxing main event a redemption of his most recent bout in front of many viewers.
Instead, it was a repeat.
Ireland’s Walsh defeated Carlos Ocampo by unanimous decision, winning by scores of 98-90 on two cards and 97-91 on the third, but the lapses in action added to the already sanitized environment of fighting in the 700-seat Apex, defusing energy that was building through earlier bouts on what might be a historic start of a powerful new promotion.
“I’m never happy with the performance unless I get a knockout,” Walsh, 16-0 (11 KOs), said.
Walsh even got dinged with being knocked down in the sixth round when he was punched while in an awkward pose and slipped forward, a glove touching the canvas and bringing referee Alan Huggins to call it a knockdown.
Walsh fought with a renewed determination in the seventh round, but then reverted to a more deliberate approach in the eighth.
Ocampo, 38-4 (26 KOs), had a point deducted in the ninth for hitting Walsh with a third low blow, and Walsh fought with slightly more sustained activity in the 10th – “my conditioning was good,” he said – but it wasn’t enough to get the finish he wanted..
Perhaps it was connected to Walsh and Ocampo greeting each other with powerful exchanges, the thuds of the blows echoing through the Apex as the crowd watched intently.
Walsh would follow by throwing heavier blows, but stepped back to pause, delaying action.
Walsh was critical of himself in his tentative - if not reluctant - showing in his September victory over Fernando Vargas Jnr in the co-main event to the Terence Crawford-Canelo Alvarez card.
Walsh split from Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach and sought to revert to the path of destruction he was laying through a string of early knockouts.
In Mexico’s Ocampo, who was knocked out in the first round previously by former welterweight champion Errol Spence Jnr and former 154lbs champion Tim Tszyu, southpaw Walsh did land some crushing lefts to the head.
But Ocampo’s added weight allowed him to absorb those shots, and Walsh stepping off the gas following his best blows likely aided in Ocampo’s recovery.
“He was doing weird things, and I didn’t know what to do,” Walsh said.
Walsh, 24, fought with a renewed determination into the seventh round, but then reverted to a more deliberate approach in the eighth.
Ocampo had a point deducted in the ninth for hitting Walsh with a third low blow, prompting Walsh to bark an F-bomb.
He’ll likely add another if he bothers to watch the replay of the landmark event.
