SANTA YNEZ, California – Callum Walsh seemed on his way to another convincing triumph when a serious second-round cut on his right eyelid forced him into two fights.
One was with opponent Elias Espadas; the other was with ringside physician Dr. Tony Hicks.
“It affected me a small bit when the doctor wanted to stop the fight,” Ireland’s Walsh told BoxingScene after the bout at Chumash Casino Resort. "I was a bit disheartened. I wanted to put on a show for the fans. It’s like a mental battle … you’re trying to convince them you feel all right, trying to make sure you look good … .”
Following two extended discussions with Dr. Hicks before the third and fourth rounds, Walsh saw the fight waved one second into the fifth, sending the bout to the scorecards, which awarded him a unanimous technical decision by three scores of 50-46.
The ringside announcer said the bout was stopped because Walsh’s vision was impaired by the cut, which was caused by an accidental head-butt as Espadas, 23-7-1, surged forward, leading with his head.
Walsh’s cut man, Mike Rodriguez, said he treated the cut with a $1200 sponge-substance called Avitine.
Rodriguez said that while the bleeding stopped, Walsh reported to his cornermen after the fourth round, “It’s getting hard to see.”
It took eight stitches to close the wound.
In the ring, Walsh, 14-0, apologized to the crowd for the shortened performance even though he had ended his past three bouts with knockouts before the second round.
“I’m disappointed to win a fight like this,” Walsh, 24, told the crowd. “It was growing into a good fight … not the best way to win. I felt the fight was one-sided and going my way and would continue to go my way.”
Manny Robles, the trainer for Espadas, thought it a little too convenient that the fight was stopped as soon as it was eligible to be sent to the cards and become a Walsh victory. An earlier stoppage would’ve labeled the fight a no-contest.
“It was obvious they were just trying to get it to the scorecards,” Robles said. “Our game plan was to press on as a 10-round fight, and we felt the fight was only just getting started. We really started pressing after the third round. You saw that. What can you do?”
Ranked the No. 6 junior middleweight by the WBC and IBF, Walsh opened the bout impressively, as he has in all of his recent bouts, repeatedly pounding Espadas with head and body shots and making the Mexican look like a no-hoper when the session closed.
The head-butt elicited a visible sigh from Walsh, and he was forced to mind his distance as the action slowed in the third.
In between the rounds, Walsh had to wage a lobbying campaign with Dr. Hicks.
“He told me he wanted to stop the fight,” said Walsh, who responded, “Let’s keep going! Let’s keep going!
“I knew if I could get it to the scorecards, I win the fight,” Walsh told BoxingScene. “I wanted to go as long as I possibly could. Yeah, it’s a bad cut. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is. A win is a win. I was winning the fight, clearly, anyways.”
Walsh said he at least showed he could manage adversity.
“I’ve been cut before. … I’m a warrior. This is a fight,” Walsh said. “The cuts, scars and bruises make you who you are – tough.”
Walsh wants badly to fight on the undercard of the September 13 Saul "Canelo" Alvarez-Terence Crawford undisputed super middleweight fight card at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, and the 60-day suspension he received from the California State Athletic Commission will allow him to do so, promoter Tom Loeffler said.
“Cut or no cut, I’ll fight there,” Walsh said.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.