Somewhere between a few strategic Instagram posts and a little internet imagination, the romance between boxing champion Claressa Shields and rapper Papoose started to look real serious, real fast. Although they have both spoken openly about their love for one another and their desire to eventually start a family together, during a recent appearance on VladTV, Papoose offered a light reality check—and let’s just say, it’s not exactly what folks thought it was.
Suggested Reading
Shields shook social media up real good when she went live in November 2025 flaunting a shiny gold cluster ring on her ring finger—naturally sending the internet straight into engagement speculation mode. Because let’s be real, placement is everything… and folks didn’t need much more than that to start attempting to connect some dots.
“You see this big old ring on my finger? Blinga-ding-ding-ding,” Claressa sang, flashing her hand in the camera. “Engaged,” she teased. “I’m getting tired of people asking me, ‘When your wedding, when your wedding? When you gonna have kids?’” she continued—adding more fuel to the fire.
But while fans wait anxiously for wedding photos to post, Pap just put the engagement chatter to bed during a recent sit-down with VladTV, revealing that while he and Shields do exchange gifts, an engagement ring was never part of the rotation. And Vlad—never one to tiptoe around the spicy questions—made sure to press him on whether wedding bells were actually in the cards for the couple.
“I think at one point she flashed a diamond ring, so people were thinking, ‘Oh, are you guys engaged?’ But I guess she said no?” Vlad asked.
“Um, no. You know, we have bought each other gifts for different holidays. I bought nice gifts for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, her birthday… so we’ve exchanged numerous gifts, but never a ring,” the rapper confirmed.
Fans in Twitter’s comments section couldn’t wait to sound off on the issue. And they held nothing back.
“Damn never a ring wtf pap lol I hope she leave him,” one fan responded.
“Yall know he don’t want her.. n when she crash out it she will have her phone propped up for us to take part,” a second said.
Not only that, some fans felt Pap’s emotionless answer was a glaring red flag, as they encouraged the undefeated boxing champ to head for the hills and “leave that man alone.”
“She needs to go to therapy to deal with her trauma, leave that man alone, and go get herself a single man, not turn into Lil Kim with a bigger faith situation,” one fan replied.
“Claressa run now while you have the chance.. I don’t want you end up having to put your hands on this man,” a second alongside a face palm emoji.
And as for her now-iconic “Pap upstairs” line—her cheeky way of reminding folks her man is never too far—Papoose added some clarity for fans there, too, confirming that he and Claressa actually maintain separate homes. Now, to be fair, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t upstairs at some point… but we’ll leave that right there.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.