The bout between Callum Walsh and Carlos Ocampo headlines the first Zuffa Boxing event on January 23 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The super welterweight contest tops the fight card, live on Paramount+. The matchup was announced by Dana White during the Stephen A. Smith show.
Walsh (15-0, 11 KOs) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Fernando Vargas last September on the undercard of Canelo vs Crawford, marking his third successful outing of the year. Prior to that, the 24-year-old Irish southpaw defeated Elias Espadas by fifth-round technical unanimous decision and knocked out Dean Sutherland in the first round.
Former title challenger Ocampo (38-3, 26 KOs), from Mexico, returned to the ring last year, earning three victories to rebound from his stoppage defeat to Tim Tszyu for the interim WBO 154-pound title in mid-2023. Earlier in his career, the 30-year-old also unsuccessfully challenged Errol Spence Jr. for the IBF welterweight title, as well as Sebastian Fundora for the interim WBC super welterweight title.
“When I’m talking about matchmaking… I’m going to have all these up-and-coming guys,” White told Stephen A. Smith. “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 [is] undefeated [at] 15-0. It’s the main event. Should be… again, a badass boxing event.”
The bouts featured on the Walsh vs Ocampo undercard are expected to be confirmed shortly.