Close your eyes and just listen, and you could have convinced yourself it was March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden, as Muhammad Ali made the long walk to face Joe Frazier in what remains the most significant bout in boxing history.
Ali and Frazier are both gone, boxing is a vastly different sport in 2021 than it was in 1971 and it’s almost heresy to mention any other fighter in a sentence with those two.
But as Nico Ali Walsh turned professional on Saturday, wearing the white trunks with a black stripe that his grandfather wore as heavyweight champion some 50 years ago, it was hard not to get goosebumps by the scene.