Shaq Rejects Dwight Howard's Boxing Match Proposal: 'Gotta Have More Than One Ring to Get in the Ring With Me'

Dwight Howard needs to step up his ring game if he wants to get in the ring with Shaquille O'Neal.

Seemingly inspired by the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight last weekend, Howard directly asked Diesel to join him in the ring. "Shaq, wassup up let's make bread," he proposed, including a boxing glove and laughing-crying emoji in a tweet earlier this week.

"Gotta have more than one ring to get in the ring with me, I'll stick with a real champion like @RobGronkowski, and you can have the Superman belt, all yours buddy," O'Neal wrote in response to Howard's challenge on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Howard won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020 NBA Finals, while Shaq has four NBA championships to his name.

Howard's proposal comes after the Netflix bout between Paul and Tyson that aired on Nov. 15. Someone questioned why the 38-year-old did not tag Shaq in his message. Howard simply replied, "I'm blocked lol."

Howard then responded to Shaq's stipulations, saying, "my bad I didn't read the rulebook." Shaq then explained that the opportunity he proposed—which he teased over the weekend—would involve some sort of event with Rob Gronkowski, pitting NFL players against NBA players. He also questioned why the challenge from Howard came after he had turned 50.

"If you woulda read it ,noticed it says Nba vs Nfl with that being said you can box a Nfl guy and then if u win, then u can get The jones of the big man #thegoat #onlyonesuperman, u wait til im fifty to challenge me that’s funny just join the show and let’s whoop some nfl guys. And if u make it to the hall of fame then well do it," Shaq wrote.

The bout between Paul and Tyson has motivated others to get in the ring. IShowSpeed said during his conversation on 360 With Speedy at ComplexCon 2024 in Las Vegas that he could beat Jake Paul in a fight. Speed admitted he would need a few months of training, but he believes that preparation will lead to a knockout victory.

"If I have six months, all I need is six months. If I have six months of training, I'm beating any monster in this world," he said. "I think I'm knocking him out. In, like, the fifth or sixth round....It's just going to be that one good one. You know like when Gervonta Davis got that one on Ryan [Garcia]? One good one, he's done, sleep."

Tyson has also received an offer from boxing great and friend Evander Holyfield, but Iron Mike does not appear to be interested.