Nico Ali Walsh

Bio

Right then. Nico Ali Walsh is the grandson of Muhammad Ali — yes, that Muhammad Ali — and he carries the weight of that name every time he laces them up. It is the single most famous name in the sport, arguably in sport full stop, and whatever Nico does inside the ring it will always be measured against what his grandad did outside it. A proper tough gig.

Credit where it's due — he did not have to do this. Born in Chicago, raised in Las Vegas, he picked up boxing as a teenager, went amateur, and turned professional in 2021. His pro debut was memorable, a four-round win at the Hulu Theater with his grandmother Lonnie Ali ringside. Since then he has fought regularly, grown his record, and taken the lessons of his first couple of losses on the chin. He is not a world-title contender and he has never pretended to be one. He is a working middleweight with a famous surname and the discipline to keep at it.

Today, though, Nico matters for a different reason. He has been summoned to Washington to testify in front of the Senate Commerce Committee on the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act — a bill that literally carries his grandfather's name. Reports are that he opposes it. That is a big deal. If the man named after the man the bill is named after thinks it gets the balance wrong, that is a very difficult political position for the bill's supporters to argue around.

If you know, you know. Muhammad Ali was not just a great fighter; he was the fighter who most forcefully argued that boxers are exploited, underpaid, and under-protected. The 2000 Ali Act was named after him because it was designed to begin fixing that. Nico Ali Walsh taking a stand against a revised version of his grandfather's law is about as loaded a boxing moment as you will see this year.