Nico Ali Walsh remained good by 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 resolution 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 Area 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 along with his proper hand. Ali Walsh loved the perfect moments of the spherical, efficient along with his proper uppercut. Nevertheless, the unbeaten middleweight briefly struggled to search out his rhythm.
That modified in an enormous manner 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 rely and rode out an ensuing volley by Ali Walsh to work his manner 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 supplied a extra disciplined assault in spherical three, sticking to the fundamentals and landed crisp mixtures. Ayala managed to select up the tempo in spherical 4, although Ali Walsh remained unnerved and continued to search out success along with his proper hand together with a left hook behind it. A battle of proper palms was gained by Ali Walsh, who briefly staggered Ayala close to the tip of spherical 4 although he was additionally compelled to take care of a minimize alongside his cheekbone.
Ayala supplied a ‘pleased 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 closing spherical.
Ali Walsh had a lot left within the tank, whereas Ayala tried to combine issues by combating in a southpaw stance at first 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 along with his courageous providing. The ultimate final result, 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