I wasn’t getting to be a lifer in boxing,” Arum told the AP before adding, “Now I end up promoting a fight with his grandson. “I felt I’d be in it for one fight, maybe two fights. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)įor his promoter, Bob Arum life has come a full circle and this feeling is like no other.

“He’s my grandfather as simple as that,” said Nico Ali, who is also juggling classes in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, while being a professional boxer. So I don’t see it as most people do,” he told Yahoo Sports. But I feel like every fighter has pressure. Obviously, I’m more heavily compared to him if I’m picking the same, exact sport that he was in, but I’ve felt this pressure my whole life. So whether it’s boxing or school or anywhere in life, I am always compared to my grandfather. “Unfortunately, well, fortunately for me, actually, I’ve had to live with this pressure my whole life. (Source: Instagram)īoxing is a tough sport but for Nico Ali, there is the added pressure of living up to the family name. Muhammad Ali on facetime with his grandson Nico Ali Walsh. However, in his final days, he helped his grandson (aged 15) in his training via facetime. Ali, a three-time boxing world heavyweight champion, passed away in 2016 after battling Parkinson’s syndrome. His mother Rasheda Ali, who was the daughter of Muhammad Ali’s second wife, was also initially opposed to her son’s desire of practicing the same ‘trade’ as his grandfather.īut boxing was in his family’s DNA and it was at 14 that he finally did take up the sport seriously and to help him out he had the world’s best mentor. Nico Ali knows his lineage will be the constant buzz when he steps foot in the four-squared ring as his first pro contest occurs 61 years after Muhammad Ali’s first professional fight.īorn in Chicago but a resident of Las Vegas since he was four years old, Nico Ali wasn’t captivated by the sport that gave his grandfather eternal fame. His four-round Middleweight debut will air on the ESPN #FrancoMolone圓 main card. It’s still surreal to me that more than 50 years after I began promoting The Greatest, his grandson turns pro on our show Saturday night. One of those bouts was the memorable ‘Thrilla in Manila’ against Joe Frazer. Arum, 89, first promoted an Ali fight in 1966 and organised another 27 of Ali’s fights between 19. Adding more drama to the event, Nico Ali’s bout was promoted by Bob Arum, who famously organised Muhammad Ali fights.

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