“I take it, I got a storage room with 30 years worth of gifts, I’ll open it up one day.” Recently, Shaquille O’Neal opened up about not being on board while receiving gifts from anybody. His thought process behind this was pretty simple. Ever since becoming the breadwinner for the family, the comfort of his close ones has been his priority. But when the gift is from one of his idols? Will Shaq break his tradition and accept the gesture?

On the 41st episode of his podcast a few days ago, Shaquille had Evander Holyfield as his guest. With the boxing legend in the house, some of the discussions were about Jake Paul and Mike Tyson’s fight. Also, Shaq’s potential bout against Rob Gronkowski revealed a surprise addition. But even more surprising for the Lakers legend, was the gesture from the 4x World Heavyweight champion. “Adam, I’m about to cry right now.”

The LSU alum explained to his co-host Adam Lefkoe that Holyfield had something special in mind for Shaq. “He has a collector’s card edition of himself and he just signed it.” O’Neal couldn’t believe it and had to confirm twice. “That’s for me Champ? For Real?” The famous rival of Tyson explained, “You know what and it very rarely that I do this.” Evander Holyfield then gifted the card to Shaquille O’Neal. Who still was not sure how to process the entire situation.

“Like I never asked for autograph, but when you get something from your idols bro, it’s like a big thing. I was always a medium-level juvenile delinquent who was told you are never going to be anything.” Ruling the hearts of people, yet, the former Center has a hard time believing his success, which has also come to include the bond he shares with his idol -Holyfield. “Even though I’m Shaq, I’m still the kid that doesn’t believe none of this is real,” he adds.

Shaq has been a huge fan of Holyfield since his playing days. He revealed he was a lot more conscious, striving to show his best when the boxing icon was in attendance once. “I’m bout to put on a show for the champ,” he had told to the players on court with a warning to not shoot. He seems to have more than impressed Holyfield now.

The four-time world heavyweight champion believes that with the right training, Shaq could have made an amazing boxer. The 4x NBA champ has failed miserably both the times he stepped into the ring previously. But Holyfield has faith and clearly so as he took up Shaq’s offer on a wild stint.

Shaquille O’Neal signs a coach before the announcement of the potential fight

The 52-year-old will have to be in the shape of his life since he wants to box Rob Gronkowski. For that he has even hired a coach, it was none other than his recent podcast guest, Evander Holyfield. Having had a bit of experience and now with the boxing champion by his side, Shaq was confident enough to send a warning to his opponent. “Don’t act like I got no hands. I got hands. I used to beat up and get beat up, so I got hands. But now I am about to be trained by the champ,” he asserted.

Shaquille O’Neal and Holyfield even agreed via a handshake. “So we’re going to sign the contract now when I fight Gronk. You’re [Holyfield] going to be my coach.” With 44 wins and 29 of them from knockouts under his belt, Holyfield shared some advice for the 7-foot-1 giant.

Both the times Shaq contested in boxing, they were exhibition matches, and both had a unanimous winner. Shaq is determined to add a win to the scorecard, but there have been no official announcements so far; only online warnings from both sides. $12 million at stake and his idol by his side, can Shaq change the outcome this time?