Las Vegas Weekly

July 9, 2010 · 3:36 PM

Photos: Shaq vows to wear pink bikini if he loses to Shane Mosley

By Robin Leach

Shane Mosley and Shaquille O'Neal face off during a press conference at Caesars Palace on July 8, 2010 in advance of their exhibition boxing match for ABC's Shaq Vs.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Shaquille O’Neal is so confident that he’ll defeat boxer “Sugar” Shane Mosley tonight at Caesars Palace that he’s made one of the more unusual bets of his life: “If I lose to ‘Sugar’ Shane, I will walk through Caesars Palace in a pink bikini.” Heaven help us if he fails!

Tonight’s fight will be featured in an episode in late August that kicks off Season 2 of his ABC series Shaq Vs. Although the athletes posed for contributing photographers Tom Donoghue and Darrin Bush yesterday, there will be no media coverage of the boxing match tonight.

TV producers want the outcome kept secret until the broadcast. Fans watching the showdown at Roman Palace on the Strip front at Caesars will be sworn to secrecy and enter through security checkpoints, as they are not permitted to bring cell phones, cameras or anything else that can record the outcome.

Last year, Shaq fought here against Oscar De La Hoya, and although many viewers and even boxing experts thought the NBA star won, Oscar was declared the winner.

This week, the towering sports legend taped a segment with magicians Penn & Teller at their theater in The Rio. Shaq took on the role of a magician and in true Las Vegas style had four sassy showgirls assisting him. He also played a basketball game against the two magicians that’s part of the episode. After the taping, Shaq joined Penn & Teller in the Monkey Green Room backstage to pose for official photos.

Out of respect to Shaq, ABC producers and fans, I will not use Twitter tonight to report the outcome even if people leaving Caesars decide to tweet it. Tune in next month for the excitement, and the frightening thought of Shaq losing and donning a pink bikini for his stroll through the casino.

A third segment of Shaq’s week here was added to the shoot schedule last-minute. Tomorrow at noon, he will go up against reigning Nathan’s Famous hot dog-eating champion Joey Chestnut in a stuffed-face-off at Serendipity 3 on Caesars’ forecourt.

Fans will be permitted to watch and take part in a hot dog challenge with Shaq, but again all cameras, cell phones and recording devices will be banned. Joey on the Fourth of July kept his title with an amazing 54 hot dogs and buns devoured. My bet is on Joey. I just hope that if Shaq loses the fight against Shane, he doesn’t don that bikini right after the hot dog contest!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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