Professional career
Walsh made his professional boxing debut on 2 February 2008 alongside his twin brother, Ryan and their elder brother, Michael. Boxing on the same bill as Olympic silver medalist Amir Khan at London's Excel Arena, all three brothers scored winning debuts. [1]
On 23 October 2010, he headlined a bill for the first time at York Hall in Bethnal Green with the vacant Commonwealth super-featherweight title at stake. [2] Walsh defeated his co-challenger for the belt, Maxwell Awuku, by unanimous decision. [3] [4]
He made his first defence of the title on 20 March 2010, scoring a ninth round technical knockout win over John Kays at Robin Park Centre in Wigan. [5]
The second defence of his title came on 30 September 2011, with Walsh meeting former British champion Paul Appleby at York Hall. Despite winning when his opponent retired at the end of the 10th round, Walsh had been knocked down in the seventh round and said afterwards that it was "definitely the hardest fight I've been in." [6]
Moving up a weight division, he won the vacant WBO European lightweight title by stopping Domenico Urbano in the eighth round at the Boleyn Ground in London on 14 July 2012. [7]
Walsh successfully defended the title with a unanimous decision win over Scott Harrison at Wembley Arena on 20 April 2013. [8]
He was scheduled to get his first shot at a world title by challenging WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns on 15 December 2012, but had to withdraw from the fight due to injuries from being involved in a car crash. [9] [10]
Walsh won the British super-featherweight title against Gary Sykes on 29 November 2024. He dropped Sykes in the first round and went on to dominate the fight and won a unanimous decision with judges scores of 119–108, 118–111 and 118–109. [11] [12]
He defended his British and Commonwealth super-featherweight titles on 28 February 2015 against Joe Murray at The O2 Arena in London, winning by fifth round technical knockout, [13] and again on 30 April 2026 with an eighth round stoppage of Troy James at the Copper Box Arena in London. [14]
On 8 October 2016, Walsh fought undefeated Russian Andrey Kimov as a final IBF eliminator for their version of the super featherweight title. Walsh switched his stance effortlessly throughout the fight and was moving well. In a well-rounded, dominant win, Walsh managed to get the nod via unanimous decision. [15]
In his next fight, Walsh challenged Gervonta Davis for his IBF super-featherweight title. Davis started off with a sharp jab and controlled most of the action in the opening round. The second round was closer, but Davis still had the edge. In the third round, Davis managed to catch Walsh with a big shot, which wobbled the latter, opening the way for Davis so finish the fight with a flurry of big shots. Walsh got dropped, and despite beating the count, was not able to recover and another barrage of shots from Davis forced the referee to stop the fight. [16] [17]
On 9 November 2019, Walsh became a two-time WBO European lightweight champion when he defeated Maxi Hughes by unanimous decision to win the vacant title at York Hall. [18] [19]
He was scheduled to face Paul Hyland Jr for the vacant British lightweight title at the University of Bolton Stadium on 19 March 2021, but withdrew after failing to recover from COVID-19 in time. [20] [21]
