Claressa Shields and Laila Ali did enough back-and-forth jawing to make fans believe that there's at least a chance of a mega bout happening between the two.
However, during a recent interview with Marcos Villegas, Shields' promoter, Dmitry Salita, says the chances of it taking place are slim.
"Claressa wants to fight the best. She would sign the contract today. The bigger question is Laila Ali," Salita said. "I know Laila has gone on TV and on the radio and there has been talking the talk, but there have been very little material discussions."
That leaves Salita to believe that the bout won't happen.
"I hope that she'll do it, but I don't think so," he continued. "Kind of similar to Cecilia Braekhus because at some point a couple of months ago, Cecilia was talking about fighting Claressa. I reached out to her and there was radio silence. There have been some discussions (with Ali's team), but not enough for me to say that I feel strongly that it's going to happen.
"It's really up to Laila."
Salita's words come after Shields herself voiced her frustrations with Ali and Braekhus, the women's welterweight undisputed champion of the world, over a failure to cement a fight.
With Ali, Shields' frustration lies in Ali's alleged request to get a majority of the fight purse despite the fact that she has been retired since February 2007.
"She wants a bigger share of the pay-per-view buys," Shields told DAZN's Ak & Barak earlier this month about Ali. "She wants the bigger percentage. She wants to be the A-side. And it's like, 'No, you're not. You're not going to be the A-side of anything, you understand?' We can come to an agreement. If you're talking about any split, it's going to be 50-50 because I'm relative right now.
"I'm the three-division world champion," she continued. "I'm not going to bow down because that's Muhammad Ali's daughter. Yeah, you're Muhammad Ali's daughter, Laila Ali. You're not Muhammad Ali. So, don't think I'm going to be (like), 'Oh, she gets (a) 70-30 split.' Where? 70-30, no. That's not going to happen."
With Braekhus, Shields believes that her fellow undisputed champ simply wants to "play games" to avoid a possible showdown.
Shields, the reigning WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion and undisputed middleweight champ, was slated to fight Marie-Eve Dicaire on May 9, but the bout was postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Whenever the bout does happen, a Shields win would make her the first female fighter to simultaneously hold an undisputed crown in two weight classes.