Attell drew with Jimmy Walsh at the Colliseum in San Francisco in a fifteen-round points decision on December 21, 1908. Walsh claimed to hold the world bantamweight title at the time, and the bout was billed as a world bantamweight title match for the limit of 116 pounds, but no title officially changed hands, as Walsh was overweight. As was typically the case with Attell, he was superior in the infighting, but Walsh lead and was more aggressive in the bout, and he may have landed the more telling blows, accounting for the draw decision. In the fifteenth, Walsh battered Attell badly making up any lead Attell enjoyed, and Attell's face appeared far more battered at the end of the bout.