Laila Ali-Claressa ShieldsCredit: Getty
If struggle followers and boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh need to see Laila Ali and Claressa Shields in a hoop, it will value them a reasonably penny.
Ali was part of Netflix’s streaming crew for Friday night time’s historic, all ladies’s boxing occasion headlined by Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano’s third struggle. Ali did a implausible job together with her evaluation and her presence was nice contemplating the position she performed as a pioneer of ladies’s boxing. Whereas Ali spoke about Taylor-Serrano and the opposite fights on the cardboard, you knew boxing media would not let her escape with out citing the chances of a struggle between her and Shields.
In response to Ali who spoke to reporters from FightHype, it could take $15-$20 million {dollars} to get her to think about returning to the ring. Right here’s a take a look at the interview.
A struggle between Ali and Shields would do big numbers. The 2 ladies are arguably the most well-liked ladies ever within the sport, and the real-life beef would solely make this a stronger draw. Alalshikh might be the one individual on the planet with the means and potential curiosity to fund such an occasion.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 16: Claressa Shields attends the 2024 Ladies’s Sports activities Basis’s … Extra Annual Salute To Ladies In Sports activities at Cipriani Wall Avenue on October 16, 2024 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by Marleen Moise/Getty Pictures for WSF)Getty Pictures for WSF
Shields has notoriously beefed with a lot of the massive names in ladies’s boxing, together with Serrano. And as I wrote earlier this yr, it’s been good for the game.
In response to Yahoo! Sports activities’ Shanelle Genai, who chronicled the meat between the 2 icons, the Shields-Ali rigidity stems from a mentor-turned-rival dynamic that soured as the 2 stars grew aside.
Shields has brazenly voiced her frustrations about how Ali has downplayed her accomplishments, whereas Ali has prompt that Shields must “humble herself.” These phrases stung exhausting sufficient that Shields as soon as referred to as Ali “probably the most hated” lady in boxing.
Ali is 47 and Shields is 30. Contemplating the huge age hole and the truth that Ali hasn’t competed in 18 years, I might nonetheless name this an unlikely prevalence. Nevertheless, the form of cash Ali talked about adjustments issues.
Ladies’s boxing is on a historic rise—and nobody instructions headlines like these two. Simply the thought of a super-fight between generations has already stirred the pot. And with Netflix, Alalshikh, and different monetary energy gamers proving they’ll put money into spectacle, the cash won’t be as far-fetched because it as soon as appeared.
We’ll see what Shields has to say in response to Ali’s asking worth, or if it’s one thing she ignores whereas making ready for her subsequent struggle on July 26 towards Lani Daniels. In case you missed it, here’s a take a look at all the outcomes from Netflix’s big all-women’s boxing occasion.
Full Taylor-Serrano 3 Card Outcomes
Katie Taylor def. Amanda Serrano through majority determination (97-93×2, 95-95) For Taylor’s undisputed ladies’s junior welterweight championship
Alycia Baumgardner def. Jennifer Miranda – For Baumgardner’s undisputed ladies’s junior light-weight championship
Shadasia Inexperienced def. Savannah Marshall through break up determination Rounds – For Marshall’s IBF ladies’s tremendous middleweight title and Inexperienced’s WBO tremendous middleweight title
Ellie Scotney def. Yamileth Mercado through unanimous determination 100-90×2, 99-91 for Scotney’s IBF and WBO ladies’s junior featherweight titles and Mercado’s WBC ladies’s junior featherweight title
Cherneka Johnson def. Shurretta Metcalf through TKO9 For Metcalf’s IBF ladies’s bantamweight title and the vacant WBO and WBC ladies’s bantamweight titles
Chantelle Cameron def. Jessica Camara through unanimous determination (99-91, 98-92, 99-91) WBC ladies’s interim junior welterweight title
Ramla Ali def. Lila Furtado by unanimous determination (77-75×2, 78-74) – Junior featherweight
Tamm Thibeault def. Mary Casamassa through Fifth-Spherical TKO Middleweight
