Despite the status quo it created when he and Oscar De La Hoya met Senator Ted Cruz and members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for the hearing on the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, Nico Ali Walsh remains optimistic.

In the latest development, the middleweight boxer, whose last bout took place in December, revealed that he’s had a call with the senators and expressed hope for changes to the much-debated act that has divided the boxing world.

“Ali Act Update. GREAT call today with the Senators. Changes are coming!!” Ali Walsh’s X post read.

“I’ll update everyone soon. Bottom line, the BOXERS will win in the end,” he added after a user expressed concerns about whether Dana White and his Zuffa Boxing and the parent company TKO Group Holding, which has been backing the Ali Revival Act, will eventually change the existing structure and rules in the bill that is pending in the Senate.

To understand Nico Ali Walsh’s optimism, it is important to look at where the Ali Revival Act currently stands in its path toward enactment. As of summer, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is reportedly assessing the bill, with Senator Cruz presiding over efforts to bring together stakeholders who differ over key points to develop an amended version.

The development follows the stalemate on April 22, when Nico Ali Walsh and Oscar De La Hoya, who opposed the Revival Act, and Tim Shipman, president of the Association of Boxing Commissions, and WWE president and TKO board member Nick Khan, who supported it, assembled for a hearing titled “Return to Your Corners: Have Federal Boxing Laws Gone the Distance or Slipped the Jab?”

The day after tomorrow, it will be one full year since the Ali Revival Act was first tabled at the House of Representatives by Brian Jack (R-GA) and Sharice Davids (D-KS) to support the establishment of Unified Boxing Organizations (UBOs), the key and perhaps the most debated aspect of the Revival Act, and also to fortify fighter protections.

Following the December 4 hearing at the House Committee, where Muhammad Ali’s widow Lonnie Ali and other stakeholders testified, the Revival Act received strong support when the House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved it with a 30-4 vote, followed by the House of Representatives passing it via voice vote and sending it to the Senate.

Given that Ali Walsh didn’t share much detail about changes that were discussed in the meeting with the Senators, much of what will change and what will remain appears a matter of speculation at this point.

At the April 22 hearing, one major point of contention was the healthcare benefits for the fighters.

Where Nico Ali Walsh sees hope

While Ali Walsh, De La Hoya, Shipman, and Khan agreed that fighter safety remained nonnegotiable and should be uniform across the states, the medical testing became a point of contention as De La Hoya argued the expenses should be borne by the UBOs.

Beyond medical testing, Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, expressed interest in adding some financial protections for fighters, while concerns also emerged about fighters’ choices being limited under the UBO format.

The matters surrounding the UBOs in the bill have raised major concerns because they run contrary to one of the most fundamental principles of the two acts that currently regulate boxing.

The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000 and the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 forbid “coercive contracts” and make it mandatory for promoters to disclose the revenue they stand to make per event with the fighters. They also made it mandatory to separate the roles of promoters and managers and made the ranking criteria and its publishing transparent and compulsory.

According to Pat English, a lawyer who helped formulate the 1996 and 2000 Acts, the new Ali Revival Act was “a betrayal of the current act” since it allegedly tends to exempt the UBOs from those requirements. The larger concern is that, as it happened in the mixed martial arts world, where the UFC became the most dominant promotion forcing fighters into predatory contracts, a single UBO in boxing may concentrate too much power, becoming a central voice.

The recent developments, with Zuffa Boxing aggressively recruiting and signing prominent names, including those from rival promotions, amplify those concerns.

The Revival Act promises a better pay structure, including a $200-per-round minimum, a minimum of $50,000 in health insurance, and $15,000 in accidental death benefits for injuries suffered during fights. Doubts, however, persist.

Given that Dana White’s UFC recently faced a $375 million antitrust lawsuit filed by fighters over low pay, those doubts are understandable.

It is possible, amid those concerns, Ali Walsh and those who oppose the Revival Act may take a renewed look at some of the less contentious changes the bill plans to introduce.

They include allowing the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) and Combative Sports and the Association of Ringside Physicians to streamline the fragmented structure that is currently in place to protect the fighters. Other recommendations include sharing best practices, such as annual compliance reports of the boxing commissions.

The ABC would have the power to certify fight judges and other officials alongside the state commissions. They would also streamline the current title structure across the weight classes, an issue that is widely agreed upon.

Nico Ali Walsh, who had previously called for his grandfather’s name to be removed from the new bill if it was passed, saying, “it would betray the principles that his act was created to protect,” now sounded quite optimistic about the meeting with the senators. While it remains to be seen what changes they plan to make that help the middleweight boxer feel optimistic about the bill, fans can hope he comes with more encouraging news when he provides an update.