Claressa Shields has shared more insight into her decision to get her partner Papoose's name tattooed on her.
On the Friday (December 5) episode of Justin LaBoy's podcast Respectfully, nearly two years after she and Papoose went public with their relationship, the boxer gave more context to the ink dedication.
"I always said I wanted to get my husband name tatted on me," Shields told LaBoy (around the 55-minute mark of the episode below). "I always said that. So me and Pap are not married yet, but we will be." Papoose has been married to his estranged wife, rapper Remy Ma, since 2016.
The boxer explained that she got the tattoo when their relationship was still "private," and didn't want to have his name in an area that was visible to the public. She got the tattoo done while visiting her hometown of Flint, Michigan, and surprised Pap with the reveal over FaceTime.
"I had lied to him. I told him I had a meeting and I didn't. The meeting was my tattoo," Shields shared. "So I called him like, 'Hey, I'm done with my meeting.' And we were just talking, whatever, whatever. And he like, 'Yeah, I just left the gym.' And then I was like, I just was like, "Look." And I showed him the tattoo. He was like, 'What?' He he couldn't believe it."
In October, Shields displayed the tattoo while on Instagram Live and joked that she intends to get Papoose's name inked on her bottom next.
Papoose takes his relationship with Shields very seriously, so much so that in October he punched a comedian for intentionally mistaking his partner for Serena Williams.
Video from the incident showed TikTok comedian Gerald Huston in the aftermath on the punch, joking, "You play silly games, you win silly prizes."
Shields confirmed the incident on Instagram Live, recalling Papoose defending her. "The guy walked up to me and he ain’t have a phone in his hand or nothing," she said. "And he was like ‘Oh my God, there goes Serena! Serena! Serena!'"