Not many on this planet would want to challenge 7’1″ Shaquille O’Neal to a fight, but there have been winners. The former Los Angeles Lakers star himself admitted to the defeat during his recent appearance at a Bareknuckle Boxing event. Is that the reason that the Big Diesel got challenged to a fight on the very same day? Well, whatever the reason could be, the bells have been rung.
During the event, BKFC host Kristen Wai caught a moment with Shaq sitting next to former boxer Antonio Tarver. That’s when Big Diesel made a surprising confession—he and Tarver had a boxing match about 10 years ago. “And my neck still messed up,” Shaq said, laughing but clearly remembering the pain.
Now, we all know Shaq isn’t just about basketball. He’s stepped into the ring before, even going toe-to-toe with former boxing champ Sugar Shane Mosley in an exhibition match. There may be no official record of his fight with Tarver, but Shaquille O’Neal’s words paint a pretty clear picture—he didn’t walk away as the victor. And as if that wasn’t enough to stir things up, someone else decided to throw down the gauntlet.
Enter Adin Ross. The 24-year-old streamer, worth a staggering $24 million, was in the same frame as Shaq at the event when he decided to challenge him to a bare-knuckle fight. “Him and I are doing bare knuckles,” Ross declared. “I’m getting Shaq right here. I want Shaq. Yeah, I’m calling him out and everything in his face right here. And I can DJ better than him too.”
Adin Ross with twin Shaquille O’Neil. pic.twitter.com/VwEyT64L3M
— Adin Reports (@AdinReports) March 28, 2025
Ouch, a challenge and a burn. As much as competitive Shaquille O’Neal is, now it’s to be seen if he settles this down with Ross in a match. And it’s not as if Big Diesel is a newbie to the sport. In fact, the 4x NBA champ was once heavily invested in it.
Shaquille O’Neal once desired to invest in bare-knuckle boxing
Big Diesel has never been one to hide his love for combat sports, and when it came to Bare Knuckle Fighting, his excitement was on full display. Back in 2021, the NBA legend made it clear that he wasn’t just a casual fan—he saw real potential in the sport’s raw and unfiltered action. Sitting ringside at that year’s Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, he couldn’t stop marveling at the athletes stepping into the ring with nothing but their fists.
“The fact that they’re not using gloves makes them the toughest athletes in the world. I think this is the future of fighting,” he said. In fact, O’Neal was so impressed that he revealed plans to invest in the sport in a 2021 conversation with USA Today Sports. He saw Bare Knuckle Fighting as the future of combat sports, believing that its intense, no-gloves format gave it an edge over traditional boxing and MMA. And his investment wasn’t just a passing thought—he had his eyes on BKFC, the organization founded by Dave Feldman in 2018.
Feldman, who welcomed the idea of O’Neal coming on board, made it sound like the deal was all but done, only requiring final paperwork to be completed. Having Shaq involved in BKFC was a major win for Feldman.
“Now we’ve got one of the most sought-after sports figures in the entire world,” Feldman said. “Who doesn’t know Shaq? And now he’s going to be part of this company and it’s going to make a lot for people want to be part of the company.”
Now, there have been no further updates on Shaquille O’Neal investing in the sport. But it’s clear that he has had a major love for the sport. Could he step into the ring against Adin Ross for this love? Well, we are still waiting on Shaq’s previous commitment of NBA vs NFL. So fans cand this fight, too, to their wishlist.
The post Shaquille O’Neal Reflects on 10YO Defeat as $24 Million Streamer Hilariously Issues “Bareknuckles” Challenge appeared first on EssentiallySports.