Nico Ali Walsh, grandson of the late Muhammad Ali, announced on Thursday that he has formed an alliance with several key members of the boxing community to preserve the current version of the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Reform Act.
The group – known as the Ali Act Preservation Alliance – was formed in response to TKO Group’s efforts to pass the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act. The bill recently cleared major benchmarks after the House of Representatives passed the bill by voice vote in March and will now head to the Senate.
“The Alliance exists for one purpose only: to protect the best interests of the fighters, who risk everything in the ring fighting for a chance at a better life for themselves and for their families,” the news release from The Alliance read.
The Alliance seeks to ensure that there will be no monopoly in boxing, considers the proposed bill “anti-labor” and is against the creation of Unified Boxing Organizations (UBO), “which has its own rankings, matchmaking, and awards its own championships belts, while being the promoter controlling all the aspects of the business as well.”
Zuffa Boxing would be the primary beneficiary of the bill passing, which would allow the fledging boxing promotion to operate in a similar manner as the UFC with their own world titles, weight classes and rankings.
“The Ali Act Preservation Alliance believes it speaks for stakeholders across boxing and all combative sports in calling for the United States Senate to reject the so-called ‘Boxing Revival Act’ and see it for what it is: a dangerous and unfair exception to the law that protects the fighters, and which is named for boxing’s greatest hero, Muhammad Ali, who fought within the sport and society at large for justice and civil rights,” the statement from the alliance read.
The group includes Walsh, 25, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman and retired mixed martial artist Carlos Newton.
“If we can’t stop it, we need to, at the very least, educate people on what’s going on,” Walsh told ESPN on Friday. “They have continuously told everyone that they aren’t changing one word of the current Ali Act and that they are adding to it. But if you are adding to something, you are, in fact, changing it.
“If people at least know what their intentions truly are then they can fight back.”
Walsh, who serves as the chairman and spokesman of the AAPA, said that he has plans to head to Washington DC with De La Hoya in the coming weeks to speak at the Senate and present their case why the Revival Act shouldn’t pass.
The grandson of Muhammad Ali is an active boxer (13-2-1, 5 KOs) with a with a bachelor’s degree in business and entrepreneurship from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and believes that TKO Group’s goal is not to present as an alternative for boxers, but to monopolize the industry just as the UFC has done for mixed martial arts.
“People don’t understand what this bill is,” Walsh said. “They are not going to say that their true intention is to monopolize the sport but if they control the matchmaking, the contracts, the rankings and the world titles, that is the beginning of a monopoly. It won’t happen immediately but in ten years it can all change.
“This is a bait and switch tactic. They say the boxers have a choice but eventually they won’t have one and we’re out to stop that.”
