Muhammad Ali’s grandson used to fight when challenged because of his name. Now he’s an MMA fighter

NEW YORK: Biaggio Ali Walsh used to think about fighting only when someone wanted to see if the grandson of “The Greatest” was any good himself.

Muhammad Ali is one of the biggest and best-known figures in boxing history. When kids in Las Vegas discovered he was also the grandfather of Biaggio and his brother, Nico, they’d challenge the siblings to put on the gloves.

“People would find out who me and Nico were related to and they’d say, ‘Oh, can you fight?” Ali Walsh said. “And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’”

The answer now is clearly yes.

These days, Ali Walsh can’t wait to fight, and he’ll do so again Wednesday at Madison Square Garden with his next bout on a Professional Fighters League card.

Five fights into his MMA career, it’s the second time he’ll be competing in an arena where his grandfather participated in some of its most memorable events. Ali lost to Joe Frazier there in the 1971 “Fight of the Century” but won his other seven bouts, including a rematch with Frazier, and was the guest referee in the first Wrestlemania.

Ali Walsh fought on his first PFL card at MSG, challenged as much by the historic setting as his opponent.

“I was super nervous but I went in there and just stayed calm, just got the job done and that’s how I want to be in every fight,” Ali Walsh said.

Ali Walsh (4-1) still fights as an amateur, trying to make up for a somewhat late start to a combat career.

Two weeks shy of 25, he certainly lacks the foundation of his grandfather, who began boxing at 12 and was just 18 when he won a boxing gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

But fighting at any age was never part of Ali Walsh’s plan. He was a running back at powerful Bishop Gorman High School, where he scored 65 touchdowns and rushed