Nico Ali Walsh remained good by means of eight fights and eighteen months within the professional ranks.
The 21-year-old combating grandson of the late, legendary Muhammad Ali superior to 8-0 (5KOs) with a six-round, unanimous choice over Phoenix’s Eduardo Ayala. Judges Dennis O’Connell (60-53), Esther Lopez (59-55) and Tim Cheatham (59-55) all had Ali Walsh comfortably forward of their ESPN+ aired contest Friday night from Desert Diamond Enviornment in Glendale, Arizona.
Ayala got here to entertain his hometown crowd. The fleshy however decided Phoenix-based middleweight loved frequent success within the opening spherical together with his proper hand. Ali Walsh loved the perfect moments of the spherical, efficient together with his proper uppercut. Nevertheless, the unbeaten middleweight briefly struggled to seek out his rhythm.
That modified in an enormous means in spherical two.
Ali Walsh—a Chicago native who lives in Las Vegas and graduated from UNLV—produced the primary knockdown of the bout. It got here courtesy of a proper hand, which despatched Ayala to the canvas at simply previous the one-minute mark of the second spherical. Ayala beat the depend and rode out an ensuing volley by Ali Walsh to work his means again inside. The restored confidence exhibited by Ayala drew the dismay of Emanuel Savoy, Ali Walsh’s head coach who instructed his cost to not get careless when at shut quarters.
Ali Walsh provided a extra disciplined assault in spherical three, sticking to the fundamentals and landed crisp combos. Ayala managed to select up the tempo in spherical 4, although Ali Walsh remained unnerved and continued to seek out success together with his proper hand together with a left hook behind it. A battle of proper palms was received by Ali Walsh, who briefly staggered Ayala close to the tip of spherical 4 although he was additionally compelled to deal with a reduce alongside his cheekbone.
Ayala provided a ‘joyful to be right here’ second when he embraced Ali Walsh on the finish of spherical 5. The 30-year-old native boxer thought it was the tip of the combat, however was compelled to regroup for the sixth and ultimate spherical.
Ali Walsh had a lot left within the tank, whereas Ayala tried to combine issues by combating in a southpaw stance in the beginning of the spherical. Ali Walsh landed a clear left hook within the closing seconds of the combat, as Ayala (9-3-1, 3KOs) accepted an ethical victory together with his courageous providing. The ultimate consequence, nevertheless, ended his three-fight win streak.
Headlining the seven-fight card, Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete (36-1, 30KOs) and Australia’s Liam Wilson (11-1, 7KOs) meet for the vacant WBO junior light-weight title.
Jake Donovan is a senior author for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox