The January 23 premiere of Zuffa Boxing on Paramount+ will have a main event of junior middleweight prospect Callum Walsh against Carlos Ocampo.

Zuffa executive Dana White – also the long-time head of the UFC – spoke briefly about the bout on Friday on The Stephen A. Smith Show.

“When I talk about matchmaking, I’m going to have all these up-and-coming guys,” White said. “We have this kid named Ocampo, who is a seasoned veteran. His only losses are in title fights – three title fight losses. He has more knockouts than Callum has fights. Callum, undefeated, 15-0, and it’s the main event. Should be a badass boxing event.”

The involvement of Callum Walsh is not at all surprising. White has been a long-time supporter of the 24-year-old from Ireland, who has been a staple of promoter Tom Loeffler’s shows on UFC Fight Pass.

Walsh also received a prime spot on the September undercard of Terence Crawford’s win over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, which White was also involved with promoting. On that show, Walsh widely outpointed Fernando Vargas Jnr to move to 15-0 (11 KOs).

Ocampo, 38-3 (26 KOs), is a 30-year-old from Mexico. His defeats came to welterweight titleholder Errol Spence via one-round KO in 2018; Sebastian Fundora via unanimous decision in 2022 in an interim title bout at 154lbs; and Tim Tszyu, who blasted him out in 77 seconds in 2023 in another interim junior middleweight title bout.

Ocampo has won three straight since, all in 2025. The most recent victory was in October, with Ocampo scoring a third-round KO against an 18-13-1 foe.

Walsh vs. Ocampo will be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Another show is expected to take place on January 30, a source told BoxingScene’s Lance Pugmire. It’s speculated that the January 30 show will feature former junior welterweight titleholder Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela, 14-3 (9 KOs), in his first bout back since being unseated by Gary Antuanne Russell last March.

“I’ve been talking smack about boxing for a long time, and now it’s time for me to put my money where my mouth is,” White said. “I’m going to get rid of the sanctioning organizations. The best will fight the best. We're going to sign all the young, up-and-coming guys. If you break into the top 10, and you’re still undefeated, your undefeated record means something. You know what I mean? Everybody's undefeated in boxing, because nobody fights anybody, right? Everybody will fight everybody.”

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.

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