Claressa “The GWOAT” Shields is a world champion boxer (several times over) and two-time Olympic gold medalist who also happens to be a lightning rod for controversy at this point in her career, and that’s not necessarily a criticism. Shields has become a fascinating interview, largely because of her backstory, which was so compelling that it was turned into a feature film, “The Fire Inside,” and because she is candid and forthcoming when asked questions. Her relationship with New York-rapper-turned-reality-star Papoose is often social media tabloid fodder because of his situation with Remy Ma, who he’s still married to (whose fault that is depends on who you ask) but separated from.
So when Shields sits down to speak on podcasts, whether in promotion for a fight—she has a fight July 26 with Lani Daniels in Detroit—or just because things she’s related to are in the news (see: Papoose), it’s always an interesting time. She recently sat down on “The Pivot” podcast and talked about how boxing has impacted her life. Ryan Clark, one of the hosts of “The Pivot,” asked an interesting question of Shields as it relates to how male versus female athletes speak about their journeys, and how sports impacted not just their lives, but their prospects for survival.
Clark pointed out it’s pretty common to hear a male athlete say that without football or basketball, they’d be dead or in jail, but that he had never heard a female athlete say the same. Shields, though, believes that could have been her lot in life.
“Well, I’m born and raised in Flint, Michigan, and people say Flint is known for the water crisis or whatever, but growing up, Flint was known for having the highest murder rate in the entire country for, I don’t know how many years,” she started.
She continued, “And without boxing, the way that my anger was set up, the way that my attitude is set up, I feel like I put 100% into boxing, and that’s what makes me be so great. But without boxing, I would have put 100% in something else to make me be able to fend for my family and do for my family, because I am the protector, the breadwinner, of my family, so without boxing, I still would have made a way for us, but it would have ended up jail or dead. 100%.”
Shields was reflecting on a common refrain for a lot of athletes who came from surroundings where choices are limited and sports provide an opportunity and an outlet for natural talents and abilities to shine.
While boxing is her job and passion and has given her the life she wants, she also acknowledged that she’s given up a lot for the sport, and she doesn’t want boxing to be the thing that keeps her from starting her family, noting that she and Papoose are going to have a baby next year (2026).
“I feel like I put too much time on hold on having a kid and being married and stuff for boxing already. I’m gonna have a baby next year. We already had that planned out,” she opened up about the intentionality with which she’s thinking about her life outside of boxing.
“I don’t want to wait until I’m, you know, 40, 43, whatever—after my career to have my kids. 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,” she shared.
2026 looks like it might shape up to be another pivotal year for Shields. Meanwhile, she’s still in boxing mode. While her fight with Daniels is happening this weekend, the fight she’s looking for is one against one of boxing’s GOATS, Laila Ali. Ali and Shields had a sisterly-like relationship at one point that soured—the reason for the distance depends on who you ask. After a recent set of fights at Madison Square Garden Ali addressed the rumors about a fight with Shields, making it clear she wouldn’t even consider stepping in the ring unless $15-$20 million is on the table. Shields, for her part, claims to have secured $15 million and then heard nothing back from Ali regarding progressing on a fight card for the two, going so far as to say that Ali let women’s boxing die and didn’t quite do for women’s boxing what she thinks she did.
“[Ali] said out of her own mouth that she’s in shape, she can come back, she told me that I’m too small for her, I’m not skilled enough for her, she punch too hard, and if she comes to get me, I won’t be able to keep her off me. So stand on that, come get your $15 million, and come get your a– whooped,” said Shields, according to Sports Illustrated.
“We were able to produce [the $15 million], and we still have not heard anything back from her… Hopefully, Laila and her team get back to us.” I guess we’ll all have to continue to be tuned into the life and times of Claressa Shields.
