We’ve seen athletes absolutely lose it before, but it’s rare that two guys who are ON THE SAME TEAM throw fisticuffs at one another and fight to the death.
Unfortunately, it has happened more times that fans probably know about, as competition gets heated during practice and tempers flair, leaving guys who are supposed to be “brothers” yelling and getting pulled off each other.
Well, current Cleveland Cavs forward Richard Jefferson talked to SLAM mag about one of his dust ups, when he went head-to-head with former No. 1 overall pick Kenyon Martin while both were members of the New Jersey Nets.
“My rookie year, we had gone on a west coast road trip,” RJ says. “We had gotten off to a really, really good start that year. We had lost four in a row on that west coast road trip.
“Towards the end of the game, me and Bonzi Wells are kinda getting into it. Kenyon’s at the bottom of the free throw line and the referee tells Kenyon, ‘Tell your rookie to be quiet because I don’t wanna have to give him a technical this late into the game.’
Kenyon tells me, ‘Hey Richard, be quiet.’
Bonzi Wells goes, ‘Yeah! Listen to Kenyon and shut up.’ I just lose it. I’m like, ‘F, Bonzi! And F, you too, Kenyon!’
Things didn’t just stop there, though, as Jefferson recounted to Slam:
“I go and sit down, I’m mad, pissed off. I’m sitting down and Kenyon comes in the locker room pissed off. I stand up and he pushes me down in my seat. We have a full-on fistfight. The only thing that saved me is Aaron Williams, and you remember how big he was, grabbed him from the back to try and calm him down. My last swing hits Aaron Williams in his lip and busts his lip open. At that point in time, I realize what is going on. I have no problem fighting Kenyon. Aaron? I don’t want any piece of,” RJ says still with a quiver in his voice.
And while some fist fights might tear a team apart and make things a little awkward for a bit, since the Nets were actually good back then, RJ made it sound as if the fist fight with K-Mart actually brought the team closer.
“Even that fistfight right there, we both understood how much we wanted to win and that we were willing to fight anybody, including each other, to get that done.”
Anyone who has played sports knows that this shit happens every once in awhile, but, let’s be honest, Richard Jefferson’s lucky he didn’t walk away with a smashed face from Martin.