Claressa Shields: 'Not Relevant' Laila Ali Asked for $5M in Fight Negotiations

Claressa Shields will "do whatever" to set up a fight against Laila Ali, but the undefeated title-holder claimed Ali is asking for $5 million in order to step into the boxing ring with her:

"I'm the current reigning world champion," Shields tweeted, in part. "So if she really wanted to fight, be fair! Stop asking for insane split. It's ridiculous. Also come out of retirement. Make an official announcement and say you are not retired. No one believes the talk coming from her. I'm fighting and taking all challenges! Not hard to make a fight with me." 

Shields is 10-0-0 in her career with two knockouts. The 25-year-old last defeated Ivana Habazin on Jan. 10 in a unanimous decision. She is the fastest fighter in the sport's history—male or female—to capture world championships in three divisions, per Dan Gelston of the Associated Press.

Ali ripped Shields while visiting Sway's Universe on Jan. 16 (h/t Ring of Highlights), saying the two-time Olympic gold medalist "could never" beat her:

"You wanna call yourself the GOAT, that's fine. It's flattering. You look up to my father [the late Muhammad Ali]. We both thought that was cute. That was sweet. But at the same time—first of all, she could never beat me. Let me just get that really straight right now. Let's get that straight right now. We're not even in the same weight class. I know that she walked around heavier, but that would not happen. 

"Not simply because she's not strong enough—because I would definitely knock her out—but because she's not talented enough to beat me. You're talented. You can box. You can throw those hard punches, but there's a sweet science to boxing. The reason why you have not been able to knock out the opponents that you've already faced, I can totally see why."

Ali has a resume to back up her words. The 42-year-old holds a 24-0-0 career record with 21 knockouts. However, she has not fought since Feb. 3, 2007, when she defeated Gwendolyn O'Neil in a technical knockout for the WBC world female super middle title and WIBA world super middle title.

Ali retired in 2007 but told ESPN's First Take last month she would consider coming out of retirement to fight Shields:

Shields responded to a Twitter user that she doesn't believe Ali is serious about fighting her:

Shields is scheduled to fight next against Marie-Eve Dicaire in her hometown Flint, Michigan, on May 9. Per ESPN's Dan Rafael, with a win Shields would become the first female undisputed champion in two divisions in boxing history.