Nico Ali-Walsh still aiming for world titles despite early setbacks

The pressure on a young man’s shoulders when they step into a professional boxing ring is enough to crush even the strongest of men. The pressure of climbing through the ropes when your grandfather is the greatest to ever do so is something only one man knows. 

Nico Ali-Walsh, the grandson of the great Muhammad Ali, turned professional with his grandfather’s promoter Bob Arum back in 2021 looking to carry on his family's iconic name. Ali-Walsh took to professional boxing like a duck to water, but in his 10th contest suffered defeat to Sona Akale. He quickly learned that fighters were stepping up their game when given the opportunity to face the grandson of ‘The Greatest’.

Although Ali-Walsh would go on to beat Akale, he would suffer defeat again at the hands of Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. 

Ali-Walsh admits the transition to paid ranks has been tougher than expected.

“Oh no, it's worse. The pressure is worse. It's a lot more intense,” Ali-Walsh, 11-2 (5 KOs), told BoxingScene. “The guys that I fight end up showing up like world champs when I fight them. Everyone wants to be able to say they knocked out Muhammad Ali's grandson. I'm fighting some tough competitors and it's tough. It's fun, though. I love it.

“I think it's been perfect [the journey so far]. I've had wins, losses, I've had a no-contest, I've had injuries. I'm getting some crazy experiences early on. So I've conquered it all and I'm really looking forward to just growing and improving.”

Despite the losses and hardship inside the ring, Ali-Walsh remains positive about his professional career. Much like his grandfather, Ali-Walsh is embracing the experiences in the ring and the lessons learnt.

“You learn so much more – it sucks to say – but you learn so much more from losses than wins,” he said. “They don't necessarily have to be losses on the record, but any loss in general. It felt like a loss when I injured my shoulder in a fight. I ended up winning the fight by unanimous decision, but it felt like a loss because the time it took to heal was terrible and painful. But you learn a lot from that stuff and that's stuff that you can't just make up. That's an experience that you can't just get through time. It has to happen for you to learn and I'm just grateful that I learned.”

Ali-Walsh came into the professional game with the sole aim of winning a world championship. With two defeats on his record already, some may doubt if Ali-Walsh can still achieve that. But for the 25-year-old the dream has not changed.

“Oh absolutely not, the dream has not changed,” Ali-Walsh said. “It's probably gotten stronger since the injury. You can really tell if you want something real bad when the going gets tough and you really feel like you still want it. So I'm here to stay.

“Only time will tell. I've only been pro three years and I've only got 13 fights, so only time will tell. I look at the fighters that I look up to, like Mike Tyson, for example. When he was at 13 fights, what was he doing? So I try to base my career based on who I was looking up to. It just takes time. Those fights, those experiences.”