The 24-year-old suffered the second loss of his pro career at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
There are some surnames in combat sports that bring a lot of expectations with them and being descended from Muhammad Ali is right at the top of that list.
Nico Ali Walsh is the grandson of ‘The Greatest’ and that was always going to put a lot of eyeballs on his boxing career for his family lineage alone.
The 24-year-old has received opportunities that wouldn’t come the way of any regular boxer who is still in the early days of his professional career, including the opportunity for a huge payday against one of the biggest names in combat sports right now.
Despite this, Ali Walsh recently suffered his second major setback after being on the wrong end of a split decision in a shock loss to an unknown fighter.
Nico Ali Walsh suffers his second loss to Juan Carlos Guerra Jr after turning down Jake Paul opportunity
On Friday night, Nico Ali Walsh opened up Top Rank’s Berinchyk vs Keyshawn card by taking on Juan Carlos Guerra Jr who came into the fight with a pro record of 5-1-1.
Guerra Jr got his hand raised at the end of six rounds, leading to a lot of criticism on social media for Ali Walsh following the second defeat of his career, leaving him with a record of 10-2.
Fight fans on social media made reference to Ali Walsh’s comments last year where he claimed that he held himself to a higher level than fighting Jake Paul.
He told Sky Sports that he was offered “upwards of $3m” to face ‘The Problem Child’ but chose to reject the opportunity because his career isn’t strictly motivated by money.
Ali Walsh said that he fights to honor the legacy of his family, drawing a clear line between what he does and what he describes as the “circus” side of boxing that Paul comes from.
He was also critical of Paul’s recent clash with Mike Tyson where he claimed that the social media star would try to fight his grandfather, Muhammad Ali, if that was a possibility.
Nico Ali Walsh finds himself in a difficult position in his career
There are many great fighters who suffer setbacks in the early stages of their careers but for Nico Ali Walsh, he finds himself at a crucial point in his career.
He’s always going to generate interest due to his surname but the results haven’t backed that up through his first 12 fights in the pro game.
If Ali Walsh happened to change his stance on making the jump into the world of crossover boxing, there’s no denying that he could make a lot of money to fight opponents that have either similar or less experience than him.
If he’s going to remain firm on his stance that what he’s doing is completely different to that controversial side of the sport, it isn’t clear where he goes from here.