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Eddie Hearn dropped into New York this week, and on Tuesday he hit SiriusXM to chat about the state of boxing, his heavyweight ace Anthony Joshua, and more current events in the sport.
Hearn told Ak and Barak that he DM’d Laila Ali this month. “When’s the comeback champ?”
The daughter of “The Greatest” didn’t follow Hearn, so she likely didn’t get the message. But Hearn told the gents that he’d love to have Laila, retired at 24-0 since 2007, to meet Claressa Shields, the 24-yearo-old with a 10-0 mark.
That would be a magnetic draw on DAZN, but he’s not sure how big it would be overall. He’d need it be transcendent for the dollars to make sense, he said to the hosts.
The two fighters might want too much money, Hearn said, so he’s not sure if it could happen.
“I love Claressa, I think she’s great,” Hearn said, and he’d love Shields vs the 42-year-old Ali, because it’s an “outside the box” sort of event. Shields vs Katie Taylor would be great, but the extra zing from Sheilds-Ali could transcend the sport.
Ali came to talk to Ak and Barak last week, and said Shields is “not a bad fighter.”
“Who inspires me to come out of retirement at 42? Do you have $5 million for me, do you have $10 million for me,” Ali told the hosts. “Because it’s going to take at least that to come get me.”
OK, what about Shields? What’s her response to all this? She did just have a bout, so she will be figuring out her next? Would she be up for a tango with the OG Ali?
“Yes, I’d want the fight,” Shields told me.
And, I said, Hearn is wondering if Claressa and Laila would want too much money.
“Laila is the one who said $5 million. I just added the incentive to make it interesting.”
What incentive is that?
“Loser gets $5 million and winner gets $10 million,” the Michigan boxer said.
Here is the IG post Shields put up, laying out some terms:
“Hearn knows the fight would be huge,” Shields continued. ”She says she’s not coming back for less than $5 [million], so that’s why I said win or lose, $5 million [to the winner], and winner $10 million. He should make her an offer or something and see what she says but I’m not taking an offer less than hers. I’m a current undisputed champion and three division world champion!”
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