Nico Ali Walsh failed to extend his KO streak to four consecutive stoppages outpointing Billy Wagner in his seventh professional fight.
Ali Walsh is looking to follow in the footsteps of his legendary grandfather Muhammad Ali, who is considered arguably the greatest fighter of all-time in the sport of boxing. The rising star had already fought six times as a professional and took on Wagner last night, having knocked out Reyes Sanchez with a body shot last time out.
And the 22-year-old picked up his latest win but failed to pick up a fourth straight stoppage, with the Top Rank prospect given unanimous decision on the judges scorecards who saw the contest at 58-56 , 58-56, 59-55 all in favour of Ali Walsh. The young star started extremely positively using a crisp jab to assert his dominance from the opening bell.
He bloodied his opponent's face early on in the round while having his opponent on the ropes in the maiden stanza which whipped the New York crowd into a frenzy. Fans began chanting 'Ali, Ali' as he looked to be on course for his latest stoppage win after just the first minutes.
Wagner began to feel his opponent's power and began the second round by backing off and trying to get a feel for the pace of the contest. He landed his best shot of the contest clipping his opponent with a warning strike as the final seconds of the second stanza crept away.
The fight then panned into some competitive rounds with both men having their success and Ali Walsh had little success in finding a significant breakthrough to follow up his early dominance. Ali Walsh then boxed his way back into the ascendency in the final two rounds with his left hook seen as the scoring punch towards the latter stages.
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It was his second win at the iconic venue, with his grandfather having won eight times in the New York arena and his one defeat coming in the infamous 'Fight of the Century' clash with Joe Frazier in 1971. He later avenged that loss three years later and continued his legacy, which Ali Walsh is hoping to preserve while fighting in the ring himself.
Ali Walsh will likely now make a debut in the UK next with promoter Bob Arum confirming he could appear on the undercard of Anthony Yarde's challenge against Artur Beterbiev next year. And Ali Walsh is determined to do everything in his power to continue to keep pace with his goal to follow his grandfather's career.
“I think I can achieve whatever I set my mind to,”Ali Walsh told talkSPORT. Truly I believe that and I just know how dedicated I am. My biggest asset is discipline, I’m so disciplined. Nobody understands how much I want this and I think people will start realising when it slowly starts happening. I want to continue that and I want to be great, be another great like my grandfather.”
