Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young has been in the news a lot lately, but not with anything due to basketball. In the leadup to his boxing debut, Young named his former Lakers teammate D’Angelo Russell as the NBA player he would most want to box.
But Young’s actual boxing debut came against TikTok star Malcolm Minikon, a late replacement for rapper Blueface who dropped out of the fight due to not receiving a boxing license. The fight took place at the Social Gloves 2 event, but unfortunately had an unsatisfying ending.
In the fourth round of the bout, Young was hit with a forearm or elbow from Minikon which sent him falling through the ropes and ultimately ended the bout, via BallIsLife:
Nick Young's boxing match with Minikon ended when this happened… pic.twitter.com/AWiqX0geTM
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 11, 2022
Young was not happy with the way things ended and believes Minikon hit him with a cheap shot on purpose because he was losing. The former Lakers guard told Harry Davies of Mirror that he felt good, and was winning, before the illegal shot ended things:
“I felt good, I hit him a lot, I felt I came and did what I had to do,” Young said. “He hit me with a cheap shot and that’s what you’ve got to do when you’re losing. I don’t want him getting a headbutt at the end and thinking he won off a headbutt, I don’t know how you can think he won.”
Perhaps Young was unaware of exactly what he was hit with in the midst of the fight as there appeared to be no contact with the head in the final sequence, though he could be referring to something earlier in the bout. It should also be noted that the fight was an unscored bout so there would be no official winner regardless.
Nonetheless, Young did step in between the ropes and did have some good moments including this impressive jab-cross combo that stunned his opponent, via FITE TV:
Nick Young unloading. #SocialGloves #Boxing #McBroomGib pic.twitter.com/PcdJiZTP21
— FITE (@FiteTV) September 11, 2022
It is interesting that Young, a right-hand dominant player on the court, is a southpaw fighter, but maybe that is him still saving that right arm for buckets. Nonetheless, after an interesting first showing in the boxing ring, maybe some will be more interested in a battle of former Lakers teammates down the line, even though Russell himself doesn’t seem to care at all.
Russell responds to former Lakers teammate Young boxing callout
For his part, Russell seems to have no interest in a potential boxing match with Young and even seems annoyed that his name was mentioned.
The former Lakers guard took to social media, claiming that Young was simply using his name to stay relevant and again claiming that he was not the person who leaked the infamous video which caused the issues between the two in the first place.
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