Troy Nash Jnr is passing the championship test his father has put before him.

On April 5, Nash won a six-round majority decision over Bryan Rodriguez at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.

Nash, 7-0-1 (1 KO), started his career as an unsigned fighter, despite a deep amateur pedigree and multiple national titles. He turned professional in March 2024 to little fanfare, fighting on a club show in Boulder, Colorado. He has since fought five unbeaten fighters in his career, three of whom were considered prospects, and Nash is now viewed as a promising up-and-comer featured on Zuffa Boxing cards.

“He went through the fire without getting burned,” father-trainer Troy Nash Snr said. “I think they used to call it swimming without getting wet.”

Nash recorded his second win of the year as the first fight in the initial iteration of Zuffa Boxing on Paramount+ in January. Nash, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, refined his skills in the gym watching famed boxing coach Brian “BoMac” McIntyre train Terence “Bud” Crawford for some of his biggest fights. Nash and his team are chasing the recognition and distinction of being among the best of the next era of boxers. 

“The goal is to build a champion, without talking about it as much as doing it,” Nash Snr said. “We can talk a bit, because who else has fought as many unbeaten fighters as us at the age of 20? I can’t think of any from this era.” 

The 20-year-old Nash Jnr’s last victory was considered a clear-cut decision, though one judge had it a draw – an odd scorecard. The team isn’t dwelling on that, as Rodriguez, 8-2 (1 KO), fits the mold of the type of fighter he has faced early on: tough, hungry and ready. It’s a path that isn’t hugely common in the past decade but one that the team is glad to be on.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, the path my son is on,” Nash Snr said. “I am starting to feel like fighters are training their hardest for when they fight my son, and that is the biggest compliment we can get. Everyone is at their best when they fight us.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.