Key Takeaways
- On Cam Newton’s Funky Friday Podcast, Claressa Shields joked that she and Papoose spend so much time together off-camp that she’s “surprised” she isn’t pregnant yet, after openly talking for months about wanting a baby with him.
- Shields reiterated that she doesn’t want to wait until her 40s to become a mother and plans to briefly step away from boxing to have a child, emphasizing that she and Papoose grew from friends to best friends to partners in both life and business.
- She credited Papoose with helping secure her four-fight, $8 million minimum deal with Wynn Records, but said she’s currently locked in on her August 15 fight in Atlanta as she chases two more world titles.
Claressa Shields has talked for months about wanting a baby with Papoose. Based on what she just told Cam Newton, she’s surprised it hasn’t happened already.
During her August 7 appearance on Newton’s Funky Friday Podcast, the boxer was asked a simple question about what she and Papoose actually like doing together when cameras, boxing and work aren’t involved. Her answer started innocently enough.
“I think we enjoy eating together and a lot of times we just enjoy lounging around,” Shields said.
Then she added, “Like, I'm surprised that I haven't been pregnant yet.”
Newton didn’t have to do much digging after that. Shields openly joked about how much time the couple spends together when she isn’t in fight camp, saying she’ll stay at Papoose’s place for weeks at a time.
“Seriously. Like, no. Like, for real,” Shields said after Newton reacted. She added that when she visits Papoose for “two, three, four weeks at a time,” she’s often “in the bed most of the time” because she isn’t training.
The comments are easily Shields’ most candid yet about a subject she has been discussing publicly since last year.
“I don’t want to wait till I’m, you know, 40, 43, whatever, after my career, to have my kids,” Shields said. “I want to be able to run at the park with my kids and stuff like that. I don't want to be too old.”
Her plan, she said, was to temporarily step away from boxing to have a child before returning to competition.
By March, Shields had made it clear that Papoose was part of that plan. Ahead of his 48th birthday, she posted a photo of the couple together and wrote, “My man deserve everything. I wish for his bday I could surprise him with a baby.”
Her Funky Friday conversation also gave more context to why she sees the relationship as long-term. Shields told Newton that she and Papoose went from friends to best friends before becoming a couple.
“I'm everything to him,” she said, while describing Papoose as “very nice, very calm, very protective.”
Their partnership extends into business, too. Shields revealed that Papoose helped bring her an $8 million minimum, four-fight deal with Wynn Records, including a $3 million signing bonus. She called that arrangement a “true partnership.”
For the moment, however, Claressa Shields is still firmly in fighter mode. She told Newton she was locked in for her Aug. 15 bout in Atlanta, where she is attempting to add two more world titles to her collection.
