We’re only five days into 2026, and already 50 Cent has found himself at the center of a new beef — this time with boxing champion Claressa Shields.
On Sunday, Jan. 4, the 30-year-old pro fighter took to X to address ongoing taunts from the 50-year-old rapper, which stem from an escalating online back-and-forth between 50 Cent and Shields’ current partner, Papoose.
After the “Many Men” rapper posted a photo of a young Shields with the caption, “Ok the truth is I’m a Claressa Shields fan, think she is an amazing fighter, and she got a big fight coming up, so I’m gonna chill and let her focus, let’s go champ!” Shields didn’t hesitate to call out the shade implied in the throwback.
“Please… y’all wanna run with the ugly narrative so bad,” she wrote in a post that included a recent image of herself in the ring — hair billowing, soft smile intact, dressed in a bubblegum-pink two-piece.
She went on to remind critics that while the image was being used to mock her appearance, it captures a moment of historic achievement: “I was 17 years old fighting for my entire country and had an OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL AROUND MY NECK! Of course I glowed up! And I’m going to always be focused no matter what! LIKE ALWAYS!”
In a follow-up post, Shields widened the lens.
“Boy y’all hate everything about Blackness. Being Black, Black women, Black support, Black unity, Black noses, Black a—s. It’s really sad,” she wrote, adding the peach emoji. “I’m never joining the hate train of my own people. I didn’t wear a full face of makeup ‘til I was 24 years old. Still Beautiful & Blessed.”
Her comments echo sentiments shared just weeks ago by former First Lady Michelle Obama, who expanded on a quote from her latest book, “The Look,” “When you’re a woman in the public eye, you’re often reduced first and foremost to your physical appearance,” she wrote. “If someone wants to take something away from a woman, they will try to rob her of her femininity, her beauty.”
Speaking further in a recent interview, Obama said that this dynamic persists because of what’s tolerated from the top down.
“We have to pick leaders that don’t do that,” she stressed. “I can’t get into the minds of people who are cruel and mean. My empathy says it comes from a place of brokenness and insecurity — and at a certain stage in life, it’s not fixable.”
Unfortunately, Shields’ experience is nothing new for Black female athletes. Parallels are easy to draw between her treatment and the relentless scrutiny Serena Williams and Venus Williams have endured for their athletic builds. On the other side of the same coin are athletes like Sha’Carri Richardson and Angel Reese, who face criticism for embracing glam while competing — reinforcing the exhausting reality that Black women in sports are often damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
In the meantime, Shields — the reigning heavyweight champion of the world, a five-division world champion, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist who became the highest-paid woman in boxing in 2025 — is focused on what she does best. She’s preparing for a February 22 rematch against Franchón Crews-Dezurn at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
