ALSO WATCH SHAQ VS. SUGAR SHANE MOSLEY IN A BOXING MATCH

Shaq Vs. was a reality television series, starring now retired NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, that began airing in 2009. The shows premise was that Shaq was “the greatest athlete” and challenged top athletes to compete against him, in their own sport.

Football: Shaq took on then reigning Super Bowl champ Ben Roethlisberger, in a quarterback challenge.
Result: Fail

Beach Volleyball: Shaq and partner Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers took on beach volleyball Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.
Result: Fail

Baseball: Shaq took on Albert Pujols, to a handicaped home run derby.
Result: Fail

Swimming: Shaq took on Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps in a series of handicapped swimming races.
Result: Fail

Boxing: Shaq took on Oscar de la Hoya in a five-round sparring matchup. Rounds were a real + toughman mishmash of 4×2 mins, with a 1 min fifth and final round, and 90 second rest periods. Both fighters wore headgear.

Shaq had Freddie Roach in his corner; DLH had Bernard Hopkins. The referee was Richard Steele. The play-by-play announcing was done by UFC play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg.

This was just one year after Ring magazine rated DLH the best pound for pound fighter in the world for two years running. Across a professional career spanning sixteen years, De La Hoya defeated 17 world champions, and won ten world titles, in six different weight classes (Super featherweight, Lightweight, Light welterweight, Welterweight. Light middleweight, Middleweight). That would make him at most 160 lbs, at 5′ 10″ tall.

By contrast, Shaq is 7′ 1″ and 335 lbs, a little over twice DLH’s size.

There have been suggestions that Shaq must have held back to avoid hurting DLH. Those remarks are entirely ignorant of reality. In reality, this was a sparring match, with DLH giving Shaq some work. De La Hoya was not trying to knock Shaq out. They way you can tell this is that Shaq was not knocked out.

By contrast, Shaq appeared to be trying his hardest, in a game he had very nearly zero experience in.

Result:

In the entire two seasons, Shaq managed to win just once, vs. Charles Barkley. The pair contested in eating Nathan’s hotdogs, and in golf.