The dream of fighting Laila Ali has seemingly come to an end for Claressa Shields, who got word from the retired boxer’s camp that she’s not interested.
Shields was asked by TMZ on Thursday (Aug. 7), what was the status of the fight.
“Laila and her representatives have told us no. Like, the answer is ‘no.’ She doesn’t want to fight. And that’s fine. I have no problem with that. I’m not upset. I mean, I wouldn’t fight me either. You know what I’m saying? I understand that she’s scared. I’m moving on,” Shields said.
“I thought that she was about all that talk. She wanted $15 million. I went and got the $15 million. And now it’s all this backpedaling. So, you know, congrats to her on whatever she’s doing. But I’m moving on with my career.”
Shields said that she is disappointed in Laila’s decision and that her father, who is the late boxing icon Muhammad Ali, would have chosen differently.
“We’re in a generation now where the women fight each other,” Shields claimed. “We don’t duck each other. And back in [Laila’s] generation, that’s all she did. So it is what it is.”
“Absolutely, listen, Muhammad Ali would never,” Shields added about her late father. “Her daddy would never. Her daddy would never. If you called out Muhammad Ali, he was coming to check you, and he was coming to lay hands on you. Maybe she don’t have that in her genes.”
“Laila is scared to fight me, and I would be scared to fight me, too. I get it.”
Laila, who retired from boxing in 2007, has not responded to these claims as of this writing.
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