Muhammad Ali's grandson is taking on boxing's most powerful new empire
As TKO and Dana White push to reshape boxing and tear apart the Ali Act, Nico Ali Walsh believes the sport is inching toward the very future his grandfather fought to prevent.
Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, has been one of the strongest opponents of the TKO-backed plans to enact the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act . The piece of legislation looks to amend the Ali Reform Act of 2000 to allow promoters to create a Unified Boxing Organization (UBO) that would operate outside the sport’s current four-belt system. The main concern many within boxing have is that the Ali Revival Act would allow TKO’s Zuffa Boxing — helmed by UFC CEO Dana White and Saudi financier Turki Alalshikh — to create a UBO that would run similarly to the UFC, which could be detrimental to fighters’ rights.
Although many — including promoter Eddie Hearn — believe that fighting against the proposed act is a losing battle because it is inevitable to go through, Ali Walsh follows in his legendary grandfather’s footsteps by potentially jeopardizing his own career to battle for what he believes in — and what he thinks the great Muhammad Ali would support. “I never want to put words in someone else's mouth, but I think it's apparent what [Ali] would think about the revival act because it's taking away the act that he put in place,” Ali Walsh told Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” Wednesday. “He would not be for it — why would he be for something that is not [beneficial] for the fighters?
My grandfather was the people's champion. He fought for the people. He was ready to literally die for what he believed in.
Why would he be OK with fighters being exploited? Wiping away his act and then coming in with this new revival act that would just build a monopoly and take away the fighter's powers? I just really don't see him agreeing with that at all.
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