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A Closer Look at Top Rank’s Newest Signee Nico Ali Walsh

On March 29, 1966, Bob Arum promoted his first fight, a 15-round contest between Muhammad Ali and George Chuvalo at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Fifty-five years later, the indefatigable Arum is still going strong and this past Thursday, June 24, he announced that his company, Top Rank, had brought a new aspirant into the fold, Nico Ali Walsh, a 20-year-old middleweight who will make his pro debut on August 14 against an opponent to be named on a show whose other pieces have not yet fallen into place.
A new signing by Top Rank normally isn’t newsworthy beyond the sphere of boxing, but news of this signing was splashed all over the internet. That’s because Nico Ali Walsh arrives at Top Rank with a ready-made back story. He is the grandson of the aforementioned Muhammad Ali, rest his soul, who was once the most famous man on the planet.
Nico has an older brother, Biaggio Ali Walsh, who once seemed destined for a career in the National Football League. Biaggio averaged 11.5 yards per rushing attempt during his three years with national high school football powerhouse Las Vegas Bishop Gorman. Biaggio was named the Gatorade Nevada High School Football Player of the Year as a junior and may have repeated as a senior if not for the ankle injury that caused him to miss several games.
Owing to injuries and other factors, Biaggio washed out as a collegian. He redshirted his first year at the University of California and then appeared in 10 games as a back-up the next season before returning home to play for his old high school coach who had taken the head coaching job at UNLV.
Biaggio gave up football before using up all of his eligibility. He is pursuing a career as an actor and model. And Nico, two years younger, has now supplanted him as the most notable athlete in the family.
Rasheda Ali Walsh, Nico’s mom, was the second-oldest of Ali’s nine children, arriving two-and-a-half minutes before her twin sister Jamillah. Rasheda’s mom, the former Belinda Boyd, married Ali when she was 17. The marriage lasted nine years, during which Ali fathered two children out of wedlock and took up with Veronica Porsche, the woman who would become his third wife. Laila Ali, the most well-known of Muhammad Ali’s children, is Rasheda’s half-sister.
According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, Rasheda and her husband Robert Walsh, a former Marine, met in 1991 at a restaurant at a beach resort in Florida where she was working as a hostess and he was the executive chef. They reportedly dated for a year before Rasheda revealed that she was Muhammad Ali’s daughter.
Robert Walsh was born on Chicago’s South Side and Rasheda was raised in the Chicago suburb of Flossmoor. They eventually returned to the Chicago area where Robert worked at several upscale Chicago restaurants before opening his own place in the ‘burbs, Biaggio’s Italian Restaurant. Walsh is Italian on his mother’s side. Biaggio was his grandfather’s name. An enticing job offer from Bally’s, a mid-Strip casino resort, brought Robert and Rasheda to Las Vegas.
Periodically Muhammad Ali would come into Biaggio’s and amuse the other patrons in the restaurant with card tricks. Whatever difficulties her parents had, they did not poison Rasheda’s relationship with her famous father. To the contrary, she has been devoted to preserving his legacy as a great humanitarian and, in common with her older sister Maryum, has become a spokesperson in the fight to find a cure for the disease that ravaged him. Rasheda even wrote a book on the subject, a book for parents to read to children who have questions about the illness. The title is “I’ll Hold Your Hand So You Won’t Fall: A Child’s Guide to Parkinson’s Disease.”
Growing up, Rasheda Ali Walsh had designs on a career in the theater. Marriage and motherhood pointed her in a different direction, but those plans weren’t completely abandoned. She has worked as a production assistant on various TV shows and appeared on VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop: New York.”
Rasheda, who owns a degree in mass communications from the University of Illinois, is big on education. The photo that accompanies this story was taken when Nico was named to the Dean’s List at UNLV. A business major, he is on course to graduate in the spring of 2022.
How does she feel about her youngest child pursuing a career in boxing? In a 2016 interview, when Nico was new to the sport, she conceded she wasn’t too happy about it: “I know Nico is pursuing his passion. As much as I don’t want him to do it, I don’t want to be that parent who says you can’t pursue your dream.”
Nico Ali Walsh will undoubtedly make great headway as a boxer. Top Rank matchmakers Bruce Trampler and Brad “Abdul” Goodman are at the top of the food chain when it comes to “moving” a fighter. Nico will have the benefit of training under Kronk crackerjack SugarHill Steward who did a masterful job of preparing Tyson Fury for his second encounter with Deontay Wilder. But eventually there will come that moment of truth; a crossroads fight with an opponent considered his equal or better, and then it’s all on him.
Beyond that, while being the grandson of a man as famous as Muhammad Ali can certainly open some doors, it can also be a burden. Can he handle the fame that will come his way, or the derision that will descend upon him from cowardly internet trolls if he proves to be nothing special?
Time will tell. We wish him well.
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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.
In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.
Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.
Semi-wind-up
In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.
A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.
The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.
Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.
Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.
Heavyweights
In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.
Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.
The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.
In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions
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