Written by It was quite the homecoming for Callum Walsh.
The unbeaten junior middleweight knocked out Przemyslaw Runowski in round two Friday night before a sold-out crowd at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. Walsh, who grew up in nearby Cork and was a multi-time amateur champion, improved to 12-0, 10 knockouts.
About a minute into round one, Walsh—who hails from Cork—landed a left cross to Runowski’s left shoulder. The shot briefly knocked the visiting Polish boxer off-balance. Seconds before the bell sounded to end the round, the unbeaten southpaw landed a straight left that drove Runowksi into a corner.
A right-left combination to the head dropped Runowski to the canvas one minute into the second round. Runowski remained on both knees as he was counted out at 2:04.
Immediately afterwards, Runowski was upset, stating he beat the count and should not have been knocked out.
“This is unbelievable,” said Walsh in the post-fight interview. “What a night. He had never been stopped until he got hit by me. I just hit too hard. Once you get touched to the chin by my left hand, it’s game over.
“I can’t wait to come back. This is going to be a recurring thing. It’s not a one and done. We’re going to be back again. This is just the beginning. I am a contender. I’m not a prospect.”
Tom Loeffler, Walsh’s promoter, and UFC president Dana White were seated ringside for the event. The two have carried these events via stream on UFC Fight Pass.
White recently declared that he ‘is all in’ with regards to promoting boxing cards.
Walsh, 23, also has built his celebrity by regularly attending UFC fight cards as White’s guest of White in the U.S.
In his previous fight on June 7, Walsh dropped Carlos Ortiz multiple times before winning by knockout in the second round. On March 15, in conjunction with St. Patrick’s Day, Walsh stopped Dauren Yeleussinov in the ninth round.
Walsh currently lives and trains in Hollywood, California. He is trained by Freddie Roach.
Runowski, who resides in Slupsk, Poland, falls to 22-3-1, 6 KOs. Runowski stopped Benjamin Lamptey after round three of his previous fight on May 31.
The 30-year-old had won his previous four bouts since losing by unanimous decision to then-unbeaten welterweight Michael McKinson in August 2021.
In the co-feature, Ali Akhmedov (22-1, 16 KOs) overcame a knockdown in round eight to win a close split decision over Pierre Dibombe (22-2-1, 12 KOs) of France. One judge scored the bout 97-92 for France’s Dibombe. The other two judges scored the bout 96-93 and 95-94 for Kazakhstans’s Akhmedov, who now resides in Venice, California.
The win was the sixth in a row for Akhmedov. His lone loss came via knockout to Carlos Gongora in their Dec. 2020 battle of unbeaten super middleweights.
Heavyweight Thomas Carty of Dublin improved to 9-0, 8 KOs, knocking out Argentina’s Carlos Vergara (6-2, 3 KOs) after two rounds.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com
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