Ready to make ‘Poppy’ proud: Nico Ali Walsh aims to build on Muhammad Ali’s legacy
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Mark KriegelESPN
On Dec. 11, 1981, when Rasheda was 11, she went with her brothers and sisters to watch their daddy fight a man named Trevor Berbick. As no state athletic commission would sanction the bout, the fight was held in the Bahamas and promoted by a convicted felon. None of that was Rasheda’s concern, though. As her parents had divorced when she was 5, Rasheda lived with her mom and siblings in Chicago. Any chance to see her daddy was to be treasured.
Rasheda understood the rules. Daddy, then 39, was the kind of man you had to share, not just with the family, or the block or the neighborhood, but with the entire planet. But if every moment with him was a gift, the exception was that night in the Bahamas.
“It was horrifying,” she recalls. “Daddy was older. Daddy was out of shape. I knew he shouldn’t have been boxing. This young guy was beating him up. And I’m like, Why are you fighting? Stop the fight. Then there’s a photograph of us after. He’s in bed and I kiss him, but I’m telling him, Just stop. Please, just stop.“
That was Muhammad Ali’s last fight. The intervening years saw Rasheda and her restaurateur husband, Bob Walsh, raise two sons in Las Vegas, where she made good on her promise to give them what she herself never had. At least once a month, usually twice, they piled the boys into the Dodge Durango to visit their grandfather in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Maybe the rest of the world called him “The Greatest.” But to the boys he was “Poppy.”
By junior high, the elder brother, Biaggio, had already found his passion. He’d go on to star at running back for Bishop Gorman, a football powerhouse. Nico was a little different. “An old soul,” his mother calls him. He was never happier than when he was curling up on the brown leather couch with Poppy.
They did magic tricks. They watched a lot of movies, mostly Westerns and horror pictures. Poppy was a Dracula buff and partial to the 1958 version featuring Christopher Lee.
“That’s the best Dracula,” says Nico, who’d returned the favor by introducing Poppy to the cinematic glories of “Drag Me to Hell.” They both loved Peter Jackson’s “King Kong.”
But the conversations — on the leather couch, or later via FaceTime — would inevitably turn to boxing. Nico wasn’t into team sports. But he was fascinated by the game that made his grandfather the most famous man in the world.
“What’s the most important thing a fighter needs, Poppy?”
“Dancing and moving,” Ali said.
“Poppy, what about training?”
“Roadwork, roadwork, roadwork.”
Eventually, Nico found a gym and started working out in Vegas. He lost his first fight, came home with a black eye.
“You know this is the hardest sport ever created, right?” asked his mother.
Not only did he understand, he also knew the comparison with Poppy would be inevitable and thankless. Nico wasn’t going to be another Poppy. That was never the point.
“Is this something you really want to do?” she asked, thinking: Can’t you just play soccer or basketball like a normal kid?
“I want to box.”
“You understand you have to put 100 percent into it?”
Nico was undeterred. He fought a few smokers for his uncle, Mike Joyce, back in Chicago. He fought a few tournaments in Arizona. He won some. And he lost. Once, he showed up at Poppy’s with a swollen red nose. Just the two of them on the couch.
“Your amateur record doesn’t matter,” Poppy told him. “It’s the experience you get.”
Just the same, losing a fight isn’t like losing a soccer or basketball game. “It takes a lot out of a fighter to lose,” Nico says.
And even more to fight through those losses. Looking back, that’s what Nico takes from their conversation of Dec. 6, 2014, in Reno. The whole family was there. His brother was playing for the state championship with Bishop Gorman. But it got real cold so Nico had to stay back with Poppy in the car, just the two of them. Nico was 14, early on in the amateurs and, if the truth be told, looking for a way to quit. They watched one of his sparring sessions on Nico’s phone.
“Poppy, do you want me to continue?”
His grandfather looked into Nico’s eyes, but no words came. Poppy had good days and bad days with Parkinson’s disease. This was not a good one. He was having a hard time talking. Nico clasped his hand.
“Poppy, squeeze my hand if you want me to quit boxing.”
No response. Nico figured maybe it was worse than he thought. Maybe Poppy couldn’t hear him.
“Poppy, squeeze my hand if you want me to continue boxing.”
Poppy squeezed. Hard.
Fast-forward seven years, Nico will make his pro debut as a “Special Attraction” on the undercard of Franco-Moloney III Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma (ESPN/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET). He’s managed by his uncle, Mike Joyce. Heavyweight champ Tyson Fury’s trainer, Sugar Hill Steward, will be in the middleweight’s corner.
“Realistically, he’s like a beginner, not even a polished amateur,” Steward says. “That’s how I was taught and that’s how I like to teach — from scratch. It’s been fun, I see improvement. He’s been in with all my guys and done OK. He’s smart. He can fight.”
He can fight? Steward is asked to explain.
“He’s not scared,” he says. “He’s not shy to get hit or thrown down. It’s just a matter of him learning to fight better.”
Unlike most fighters, however, Nico Ali Walsh will have to glean such knowledge — or not — under the brightest of lights. Steward will endow him with some high-end lessons, no doubt. But it’s his grandfather — or, rather, the idea of Ali — who’ll get him on TV.
“I’m not doing this to be famous,” he says. “It’s not a money grab. I’m doing this for me.”
Something in the bloodline itself speaks to his old soul. No one knows for sure what kind of fighter Nico Ali Walsh will be. But at the end of the day, that’s why he’s doing it. So he knows.
“People can think what they like,” he says. “It’s not about going undefeated or winning a belt, necessarily. I’ll know I’ve had a successful boxing career when I’m content, and my family feels happy with what I’ve done.”
Actually, his mother is plenty happy with what he’s already done and still thinks that soccer or basketball would’ve been just fine.
Rasheda Ali Walsh hasn’t been to a pro fight since that terrible night in the Bahamas. He’s 21, she reminds herself, it’s his decision.
It’s better for him to know than not to have tried. But as the fight draws near, she has been waking in the middle of the night with heart palpitations.
Will you be there? she is asked.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she says.
Of course. For her son, for his old soul, and the gift of whom it might summon.
“Daddy will be there, too,” she says “In spirit.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR went before a federal judge Wednesday and asked for the antitrust suit filed against the stock car series to be dismissed. Should it proceed, NASCAR asked that the two teams suing be ordered to post a bond to cover fees they would not be legally owed if they lose the case.
NASCAR also asked U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina to dismiss chairman Jim France as a defendant in the suit filed by 23XI Racing, a team co-owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports, which is owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins.
Bell promised a fast ruling but indicated he was unlikely to dismiss the suit when he closed the 90-minute hearing. The calendar he set when he received the case last month calls for a December trial.
“This case is going to be tried this year, and deserves to be tried this year,” Bell said.
Bell replaced Judge Frank Whitney, who heard the first round of arguments in early November. The teams went before Whitney and asked to be recognized as chartered teams this year as the suit progresses, but Whitney denied the motion.
The teams appealed and the case was transferred to Bell, who overruled Whitney and granted an injunction that allow 23XI and Front Row to compete with charter recognition throughout the 2025 season. That led NASCAR to request the teams post a bond to cover all the payouts they will receive as chartered teams as collateral should the teams lose the case.
NASCAR and the teams that compete in the top Cup Series operate with a franchise system that was implemented in 2016 in which 36 cars have “charters” that guarantee them a spot in the field at every race and financial incentives. There are four “open” spots earmarked for the field each week.
The teams banded together in negotiations on an improved charter system in a contentious battle with NASCAR for nearly two years. NASCAR in September finally had enough and presented the teams with a take-it-or-leave-it offer that had to be signed same day — just 48 hours before the start of the playoffs.
23XI and Front Row were the only two teams out of 15 who refused to sign the new charter agreement. They then teamed together to sue NASCAR and France, arguing as the only stock car entity in the United States, NASCAR has a monopoly and the teams are not getting their fair share of the pie.
Both organizations maintained they would still compete as open cars, but convinced Bell last month to give them chartered status by arguing they would suffer irreparable harm as open cars. Among the claims was that 23XI driver Tyler Reddick, last year’s regular season champion, would contractually become an immediate free agent if the team did not have him in a guaranteed chartered car.
Bell peppered both sides with questions regarding payout structures, what harm NASCAR would suffer if the teams were open cars and other issues.
“Why give a charter to anyone?” he at one point asked NASCAR.
Replied NASCAR attorney Christopher Yates, of Latham & Watkins: “NASCAR would be perfectly fine going back to that (pre-charter) model.”
Bell admitted he doesn’t normally hear motions to dismiss but did Wednesday because “we’ve got to get this case moving.” He later said he felt the hearing was beneficial as he was able to “size up” the attorneys and they could do the same with him.
Bell also warned both sides to work together to avoid disputes and promised the losing side will pay the fees for the discovery portion of the case.
With all indications that Bell is not going to dismiss the suit, it appears the only suspense will be if he orders the teams to post bond before the season begins next month. NASCAR argued Wednesday that it needs that money earmarked because it would be redistributed to the chartered teams if 23XI and Front Row lose.
Jeffery Kessler, considered the top antitrust lawyer in the country, argued that NASCAR has made no such promise to redistribute the funds to other teams. Kessler said NASCAR told teams it was up to NASCAR’s discretion how it would use the money and didn’t rule out spending some on its own legal fees.
Jordan and Jenkins attended the first hearing but were not present Wednesday. Only 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin was present, along with his fiancee and mother. France and vice chairman Mike Helton were in the gallery with NASCAR’s in-house legal counsel and members of the communications team.
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
DANIA BEACH, Fla. — While discussing the opportunity that awaits Penn State in the College Football Playoff, coach James Franklin said Wednesday that the showdown against Notre Dame is about “representing our schools and our conferences.”
Franklin then caught himself, realizing Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was sitting just to his right.
“Or our conference, excuse me,” Franklin said.
Penn State will be representing the Big Ten against FBS independent Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Nittany Lions reached the Big Ten championship game before earning a No. 6 seed in the first 12-team CFP, while the Fighting Irish made the playoff as an at-large and earned the No. 7 seed despite playing in one fewer game.
Franklin said he thinks a larger CFP ultimately requires more uniformity around college football, including every team to be part of a conference and playing the same number of league games. Notre Dame, one of three remaining FBS independents, sees its status as central to the school’s identity and has resisted chances to join the Big Ten and other conferences over the years. The Fighting Irish compete in the ACC for most of their other major sports, and they have a scheduling agreement with the ACC in football.
“It should be consistent across college football,” Franklin said. “This is no knock at [Freeman] or Notre Dame, but I think everybody should be in a conference. I think everybody should play a conference championship game, or nobody should play a conference champion championship game. I think everybody should play the same number of conference games.”
Penn State reached the CFP by playing nine conference games as well as the Big Ten championship game against No. 1 Oregon, which defeated the Nittany Lions 45-37 on Dec. 7. The Big 12 also has maintained a nine-game league slate, while the SEC and ACC have stayed at eight conference games.
Franklin, who coached at Vanderbilt before Penn State, praised the SEC for remaining at eight league games, which the league’s coaches wanted. The SEC has repeatedly considered going to nine league games during Franklin’s time in the Big Ten.
“I was not a math major at East Stroudsburg, but just the numbers are going to make things more challenging if you’re playing one more conference game,” he said.
Franklin also highlighted other areas of the sport that could be made more uniform, including starting the season a week earlier to ease the strain of playing more games with an expanded playoff. He reiterated his desire to appoint a college football commissioner unaffiliated with a school or a conference, and once again mentioned longtime coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban as an option, along with former Washington and Boise State coach Chris Petersen, now a Fox college football analyst, and Dave Clawson, who recently stepped down as Wake Forest’s coach.
“We need somebody that is looking at it from a big-picture perspective,” Franklin said.
Freeman acknowledged that Notre Dame prides itself on its independence. He said the team uses the weekend of conference championships, when they’re guaranteed not to be playing, as another open week for recovery and other priorities.
Notre Dame ended the regular season Nov. 30 and did not play again until Dec. 20, when it hosted Indiana in a first-round CFP game. In helping craft the format for the 12-team CFP, former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick agreed that if the Irish were selected, they would not be eligible to earn a bye into the quarterfinals.
Freeman noted that he doesn’t have a strong opinion on whether college football needs more uniformity.
“I’m a guy that just [thinks], ‘Tell us what we’re doing and let’s go, and you move forward,'” Freeman said. “I love where we’re at right now. [Athletic director] Pete Bevacqua and our Notre Dame administration will continue to make decisions that are best for our program.”
Franklin said his desire for greater consistency stems from the CFP selection process and the difficulty of committee members to sort through teams with vastly different paths and profiles, and determine strength of schedule and other factors.
“How do you put those people that are in that room to make a really important decision that impacts the landscape of college football, and they can’t compare apples to apples or oranges to oranges?” Franklin said. “I think that makes it very, very difficult.”
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