Former world champion Laila Ali, the daughter of the legendary Muhammad Ali, has been retired since 2007 - when she walked away from the sport with a unbeaten record of 24-0 with 21 knockouts.

But recently, Ali has been trading words with the woman who some view as the top female boxer in the sport, three division world champion Claressa Shields.

Ali, 42-years-old, stated earlier in the year that nobody on the current landscape could tempt her to return to the sport.

Shields, 24-years-old, took offense to that statement - and stated “I don’t think Laila Ali could beat me in her prime."

A two-time Olympic old medal winner, Shields says she is ready and willing to face Ali.

And Ali stated that a purse of $5 million would be the price tag to make her return to the sport.

Shields believes the money is there to make the fight a reality - but it's not clear who would stake those type of funds for the contest.

Ali made it known that she hasn't even thought about returning to the ring - until all of this talk began with respect to a fight with Shields. She makes it clear that she needs to have the right feeling, about the opponent and the money, to take the fight.

"Have I been sitting around and thinking about boxing? No. But lately there's been a little chatter," Ali said.

"[Shields has] been calling me out... and people are asking me: would you come back? Well, I have to be inspired by the opponent. I have to be inspired by the purse, because I have multiple things going on, multiple streams of income. I don't need to do it. I have to want to do it."