Nico Ali Walsh has revealed that he recieved 'encouragement' from his legendary grandfather Muhammad Ali as he pursued the early stages of his boxing journey.
The 21-year-old began his professional career under the promotion of Bob Arum's Top Rank with an explosive stoppage victory over Jordan Weeks last weekend with the crowd in Tulsa chanting 'Ali' as his debut captured the spotlight.
And with a famous name in the sport of boxing, Ali Walsh wore his grandfather's legendary white shorts as he took to the ring, with the late heavyweight arguably considered the best and most influential fighter of all time in the sport.
The young American middleweight revealed his delight at impressing with a first-round stoppage and believes he wouldn't of embarked on his boxing journey without the 'encouragement' of his grandfather.
“I wanted to get pushback from him, but he didn’t give it to me,” Walsh told Forbes.
“All he did was encourage me. Every time I asked him, not wanting him to encourage me, I was hoping he would say, ‘You know what, Nico. You’re smart, don’t go into boxing.’ If he would have said that, I wouldn’t have gone into boxing.”
“I set out to continue this legacy of my grandfather, but I had no idea it would make people feel like this, a bunch of people have been coming up to me and saying, ‘You brought your grandfather to life that night.’
The ‘Ali’ chants in the crowd, that’s something you can’t write. That’s something I would watch in black and white films with my grandfather fighting. Now they are all chanting ‘Ali’ for me.”
Walsh is set to have the whole world following his career under the famous 'Ali' name and is ready to act under the guidance of promoter Arum, but has also revealed his admiration for British heavyweight Tyson Fury who he believes would 'never beat' his famous relative.
However the new middleweight star believes that his grandfather's shorts will 'not be worn' until the later stages of his career but has admitted it 'felt special' to pay tribute to the late heavyweight.
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“It was powerful. I tried them on one time, the day of the weigh-in, I moved around in them, and they looked nice and felt nice,” Walsh continued.
“I felt ready to rock. But then I really got the feeling for them in the dressing room before the fight. I put them on, and it was like, ‘Uh oh, now it’s on.’ It was like putting knight’s armour on.”
"I wasn’t planning on wearing them to begin with, throughout this whole journey, it was about creating a name for myself.
"Fate forced me to wear the trunks this time. I believe they did. Maybe I’ll wear them again one day. Maybe for my last ever fight. But it won’t be anytime between them.”
Current Ukrainian heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk has been compared to the legendary fighter ahead of his title bout with Anthony Joshua as he looks to mount a successful assault on the blue-ribbon division after his step-up from cruiserweight as undisputed champion.
Walsh's promoter Arum has previously claimed that Ali ' would have struggled' to deal with Top Rank stablemate Fury who is currently undefeated and is set to renew his rivalry with American heavyweight Deontay Wilder.
