Junior middleweight prospect Callum Walsh’s first professional fight in his home country will come against Przemyslaw Runowski on Sept. 20, according to Dana White, whose UFC Fight Pass regularly spotlights Walsh.
The fight will take place at the 3Arena in Dublin. Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday, August 21 on Ticketmaster.
Walsh, a 23-year-old from Cork, is 11-0 (9 KOs). He is trained by Freddie Roach and promoted by Tom Loeffler, who worked with Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko as well as Gennadiy Golovkin. Loeffler’s shows air regularly on UFC Fight Pass.
Walsh has headlined multiple times on the streaming service, including recent wins over Ismael Villarreal (UD10 in November 2023), Dauren Yeleussinov (TKO9 in March) and Carlos Ortiz Cervantes (KO2 in June).
All of Walsh’s pro fights before now have taken place in the United States, eight of them in California, two in New York City, and one in Boston.
Runowski is 22-2-1 (6 KOs). The 30-year-old from Slupsk, Poland, has lost to a pair of familiar names, outpointed by Josh Kelly in 2019 and Michael McKinson in 2021. Most of Runowski’s career has been at welterweight, though three of his past four outings have been at or near the junior middleweight limit.
In his last four appearances since the McKinson defeat, Runowski has won a decision over 31-7-2 Samuel Vargas, fought to a draw with 13-5 Vladyslav Gela, taken a split decision over 27-9 Juan Ruiz, and scored a third-round TKO over 14-12-4 Benjamin Lamptey.
“He’s never been finished in 25 pro fights,” White said in a video posted on social media. “This is a massive opportunity for Runowski and a huge test for Callum Walsh.
According to a press release from the UFC, the undercard will include:
- Super middleweights: Ali Akhmedov (21-1, 16 KOs) vs. Pierre Dibombe (22-2-1, 12 KOs)
- Heavyweights: Thomas Carty (8-0, 7 KOs) vs. Jacek Chruslicki (8-0-1, 4 KOs)
- Super middleweights Emmett Brennan (3-0, 1 KO) vs. Kevin Cronin (8-1-1, 4 KOs)
- Junior middleweights: Craig O’Brien (14-3, 2 KOs) vs. Edward Donovan (7-0, 1 KO)
- Two other professional fights and one amateur boxing match
Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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