After his narrow victory over Sona Akale, Nico Ali Walsh took aim at both Teofimo Lopez and Jake Paul.
Walsh scored a third-round left hook knockdown against Akale at middlweight in Miami Beach on Saturday night, on the undercard of Lopez’s WBO title defense against Steve Claggett.
Akale had won a six-round decision over Walsh in August but Walsh took his measure of revenge at the James L. Knight Center, winning a close fight on the scorecards, despite suffering a dislocated left shoulder in the sixth and final round.
Walsh, Muhammad Ali’s grandson, used his post-fight interview to hit out at those who felt he was in boxing merely as a cash grab.
“One thing for sure I gotta clear, Teofimo Lopez said in an interview a few weeks before this fight – he disrespected my family saying that I’m only in boxing because I’m desperate for money and fame and I thought that was real wrong for someone I used to look up to to say,” said Walsh. “But, you know, it is what it is.
“I just wanna let everyone know that I chose the path of boxing, I chose the path of legacy. If I wanted to, I could be a millionaire right now. Before this fight, I denied a multi-million-dollar contract from MVP Promotions, to fight Jake Paul, and I’m fighting a real fighter tonight. I’m not a part of that circus league of boxing. This is the real league of boxing and this is what I’m gonna do.”
Walsh won on the cards via one score of 58-55 and two of 57-56, though Akale felt he had done enough to repeat his victory.
Discussing his shoulder injury, Walsh said: “I don’t know what happened. I‘ve never been through anything like that, and it popped out, but I survived and I definitely beat him. I don’t know what he’s getting upset about.
“It feels like if it happened to him, he would have cried like a baby and sat on the ground and quit the fight, but it happened to the right person and I’m just happy for the victory. It feels like I’m winning twice now, because the first time they awarded him the decision but I felt like I won.”
The crowd booed Walsh during his interview, and, asked whether he would fight Minnesota’s 9-2 (4 KOs) Akale again in a decider, Walsh, 10-1 (5 KOs), said: “I feel like I beat him twice now but if this fight didn’t prove it I will fight absolutely anyone.”
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