It took some convincing for Claressa Shields to realize she met her match in Papoose.
The boxer was a guest on the Wednesday (May 21) episode of 105.1 radio show The Breakfast Club and discussed her relationship with the Brooklyn rapper. Papoose is estranged from his wife of nine years, Remy Ma, who he's divorcing.
Remy outed Shields and Papoose's extramarital relationship last year, and the couple went public shortly thereafter. Around the 27-minute mark of the interview below, Shields recalled meeting Papoose during her fight against Shakur Stevenson last July.
"I just remember like Pap, he walked up to me and he shook my hand, which I was like, 'Who the fuck shake hands?'" the two-time Olympian recalled.
The rapper called himself a fan of the athlete, to which she invited him to a fight in Detroit. Shields also posted a picture of them at the fight on Instagram and DM'd Papoose, arranging him VIP tickets to her next match.
Shields was shocked that he showed up to the fight, but she also discussed their first date in New York.
"When we talked in person, that's when I was like, 'Dang, I kind of like this dude. And he just was like so kind, so nice," Shields said, adding that she prefers a "good guy."
She also acknowledged the "elephant in the room" being Papoose and Remy's split. "But that takes time and like I said that's not my place to speak on it," she said. "It'll get handled I just know that from my perspective, I'm with him every day, and when I'm not with him, we're on the phone every day and we're talking and we're FaceTiming. We love each other."
Shields also called herself a "secure woman" when it comes to her relationship, but called Remy exposing her and Papoose "chaos" after three months of dating. But the boxer said she doesn't have any "ill will" towards Remy, although Shields said she'd fight the emcee for $1 million.