LAS VEGAS – Nico Ali Walsh delivered the improved performance he predicted Saturday night.
Muhammad Ali’s grandson knocked out Alejandro Ibarra with a picture-perfect left-right combination late in the first round of their four-round middleweight match at MGM Grand Garden Arena. ESPN aired Ali Walsh’s impressive victory as the opener of a three-bout broadcast that’ll feature 130-pound champions Shakur Stevenson and Oscar Valdez in the main event.
Ali Walsh’s devastating right hand left Ibarra flat on his back. Referee Russell Mora started to count, but quickly waved an end to their fight.
The official time of the stoppage was 2:50 of the first round.
The 21-year-old Ali Walsh, who will soon graduate from UNLV, upped his record to 5-0 and recorded his fourth knockout. Denver’s Ibarra (7-2, 2 KOs) lost by knockout for the second time in his career.
“This is just a testament of all the hard work I put in,” Ali Walsh told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna in the ring. “This is what happens when you put in the work.”
Ali Walsh won a second straight bout impressively after struggling to a four-round, majority-decision win over Reyes Sanchez 4½ months ago. ESPN also televised that fight December 11 as part of the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Richard Commey undercard from Madison Square Garden.
He responded positively in his subsequent fight seven weeks later, when he stopped Jeremiah Yeager (1-2-1, 1 KO) in the second round January 29 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Before Saturday night, Ibarra, 28, had won four straight fights since Mexican underdog Cesar Ruiz (then 9-7) stopped him in the third round of a November 2018 bout at Eclipse Event Center in Denver.
About a minute into their fight, Ali Walsh landed a right hand that got Ibarra’s attention. Ibarra pressured Ali Walsh thereafter, but Ali Walsh continued to connect with flush punches, until he landed the crisp combination that emphatically ended their fight.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.