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Roy Jones Jr Looking To Play Role In Shaquille O'Neal Celebrity Boxing Match

Originally posted on KO on SI | By Joseph Hammond | Last updated Aug 31, 2025 1:30 PM ET

NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal has accepted a challenge to appear in a celebrity boxing match. The former NBA center announced the decision on social media.

Charlie Mack Alston, a former bodyguard to Will Smith, allegedly "chopped" the 7'1 O'Neal in the neck after he attempted to cut in line at a celebrity event when he was thirteen years old. Mack reached out with the fight offer to Shaquille O'Neal via Celebrity Boxing, a promotional group run by Damon Feldman.

"You and me, baby, Superheavyweight," Alston said in a video posted on Celebrity Boxing. Shaquille O’Neal, in his prime, weighed over 300 pounds.

Shaquille O'Neal is no stranger to combat sports, having trained in mixed martial arts and having fought a pair of exhibitions against (much shorter) former world champions Oscar De La Hoya (39-6) and Sugar Shane Mosley (49-10-1).

"You did chop in my neck, Charlie Mack, that's why I talk so funny, payback time," Shaq said in a video posted on social media.

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Former world champion Roy Jones Jr. (66-10) has suggested this week he would be willing and available to referee such a match in a media interview.

Shaq is 53 years old, and in 2009, he faced off in a boxing exhibition against former world champion Oscar De La Hoya. Shaq appeared to lose both fights, but in a 2018 interview, he claimed he held back against the Golden Boy.

The five-round fight was part of the reality television show "Shaq Vs." Shaq has said he held back against Oscar De La Hoya because the two were friends and De La Hoya agreed to appear on the show.

"I held back, because he's my friend," O'Neal said. Though he also said he was less charitable to Sugar Shane Mosley in a similar exhibition match.

Shaq in the NBA

Shaquille O'Neal played nearly 20 years in the NBA (1992–2011), which included stints with the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, and, most notably, the Los Angeles Lakers, and was one of the most dominant centers in the history of professional basketball.

He won four NBA championships during his career, one with the Heat and a "three-peat" with the Los Angeles Lakers that saw him paired with Kobe Bryant.

This article first appeared on KO on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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