Claressa Shields and Laila Ali - What was the beef? When the two female boxers feuded over wild $5M fight rumors

Claressa Shields and the daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, Laila Ali, were once involved in a heated feud over a potential boxing matchup.

Back in 2020, Shields was trying to get Ali to come out of retirement for one last time in a bout that could have very well proven to be the biggest female fight of all time. Interestingly, the callout came nearly 13 years after Muhammad Ali's daughter's last fight.

Interestingly, Laila Ali even seemed to be open to coming out of retirement for one last fight. However, she demanded $5 million for the bout. All of this seemed like an excuse to Claressa Shields, who went on to question Ali's love for boxing and had this to say during an interview with BoxingScene:

"You can tell when a person doesn’t love boxing. She can get on camera and say boxing is her first love all she wants to. It’s a myth. If boxing was her first, she would attend other boxing matches. [Ali] would be looking at other fighters. [She] wouldn’t be retiring at the age of 29 and saying there weren’t any women for her to fight."

She added:

"Boxing is not her first love. Cooking is. That’s what she does, that’s what she likes to do, and that’s what she should stick to doing.”

Laila Ali retired from the sport of boxing back in 2007 following a TKO win over Gwendolyn O'Neil with a perfect record of 24-0. Fast forward to 2016, Claressa Shields made her pro boxing debut and has gone on to be considered arguably the greatest female boxer of all time.

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Claressa Shields vs. Laila Ali: When was 'GWOAT' last seen in action?

Shields was in action this past weekend against Maricela Cornejo. However, this wasn't the bout that was initially scheduled for her.

After beating Savannah Marshall last October, the 'GWOAT' was booked to go up against Hanna Gabriels in a rematch. The two previously fought each other back in 2018.

The rematch had to be canceled after Hanna Gabriels tested positive for a banned substance. As a result, she was replaced by Maricela Cornejo. Shields was quite visibly the better boxer on the night as she dominated the majority of the fight.

After the end of a rather one-sided 10-round fight, Claressa Shields was awarded a unanimous decision victory and retained her undisputed title.