Meet boxing’s biggest fan: NBA superstar Damian Lillard

Damian Lillard can certainly captivate a crowd. His effortless 30-foot jumpers are capable of exciting fans — or silencing them — depending on where he’s playing basketball on a given night.

But on Sept 15. 2018, at T-Mobile Arena, the Portland Trail Blazers superstar was just another spectator in a sellout crowd of 21,965, captivated in his own right by Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin in the midst of their iconic title unification bout.

Lillard has a deep respect for both boxers, regarded by many as the greatest middleweights of their generation. On this particular Saturday night, though, he cheered for Alvarez, much to the chagrin of a fan seated beside him.

“He’s like ‘Man, what fight are you watching? Triple G is winning. He’s landing the harder punches,’” Lillard recalled during a phone interview in late November. “It was intense, man. We were going back and forth arguing. … In a basketball game, you’re either up by 20 or you’re down by 20. It ain’t a debate.

“It just shows you that boxing fans are really passionate about the fighters they love.”

He would know.

Lillard isn’t just a casual boxing fan. He’s a student of the sweet science — equipped with an acumen so refined that it tends to impress Andre Ward, his favorite fighter of all time, and a prolific platform from which he promotes the sport he loves. The All-NBA point guard often uses Twitter to comment on fights or the state of the sport itself, bringing it to the attention of his 2.3 million followers.

And helping it trickle into the mainstream, if ever so gradually.

“He’s not only just talking about boxing, but he’s educating people about the sport,” said Ward, an undefeated two-weight world champion who was elected on Tuesday into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Ward also said Lillard’s vocal support may draw casual fans to boxing. “But maybe because they’re Dame Lillard fans, or Portland Trail Blazers fans, you know, they’re going to listen to him or maybe even tune in. So it can only grow the sport and help us work.”

Exactly what Lillard wants if he can help it.

The fan

Lillard fondly recalled the memories of fight nights in his beloved hometown of Oakland, California. His family fixated on the television set. The likes of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield and Pernell Whitaker on the screen.

It was those memorable nights that served as the foundation of his fandom. That inspired him to wander every so often into the neighborhood gym to try his hand at boxing. Of course, basketball turned out to be his sport of choice.

But Lillard remained a boxing fan from afar, using YouTube as a means to “do his homework” and follow different fighters beginning, he says, in 2010.

“A lot of people didn’t know I was into boxing,” he said. “I would just do it on my own time because I didn’t think a lot of people were into it like that.”

Lillard would spend some of his spare time scouring the internet, finding interviews and highlights of fighters and trainers to learn about their styles in the ring and stories away from it. He speaks now with a nuanced sense of authority about the superstars, the journeymen, the prospects and the prodigies.

“A lot of times you meet other athletes, and they just have an affinity for the sport. But they don’t necessarily have an eye for it or a feel for it. Dame has both,” said Ward, who often exchanges text messages with Lillard during marquee cards.

“It’s refreshing,” Ward added. “A lot of times people enjoy the sport or the idea of two guys going in there and battling it out, but they don’t really understand how the sport works. I’m always amazed by my conversations with him with how much he truly understands.”

Ward, a fellow Oakland native, is indeed Lillard’s favorite fighter ever, but Lillard casually listed a dozen or so among his favorites now. There’s Alvarez, Terence Crawford. Errol Spence and Claressa Shields, established champions at the peak of their powers. Then there’s Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney, youthful champions on the precipice of superstardom.

Along with so many more.

Lillard has attended a couple of title fights in Las Vegas, most notably Alvarez’s victory over Golovkin and Ward’s second victory over Sergey Kovalev. But he generally prefers to watch from home.

“I don’t really like to be in the middle of the chaos,” he said. “But there are certain fights where it’s like, ‘I’ve got to be there.’”

The fighter

Lillard isn’t a professional basketball player. He’s a fighter who plays professional basketball.

That according to Cem Eren, who trains former super middleweight world champion David Benavidez — and Lillard during his offseasons.

Since 2014, Lillard has incorporated boxing into his offseason training regimens, blending biweekly sessions at Eren’s Portland area gym with daily weight training and basketball skill work.

“I feel like if somebody tried to do something, they better be able to really do something, or I could hurt them,” Lillard said of his improving boxing skills. “The thing I picked up the most is how hard it is to be a fighter. Keeping your hands up and keeping your chin down. Your footwork and being able to pivot and being able to move. Avoiding punches and knowing what punch to throw after a punch is thrown at you.”

But Lillard, Eren says, remains focused as he improves.

“He loves training,” said Eren, who watches basketball now because of his friendship with Lillard. “To engage that hunger and that drive, it’s very hard. … To have that and to be able to follow that every single time, not many can do that. And I witness it every time he steps into the ring.”

The rigors in the ring have helped Lillard foster an even deeper appreciation for the fighters he admires, because he knows now what it takes to be one.

Promoting them is the least he can do.

“It’s a real, genuine love and care for the sport. And I also want to see these fighters get the attention and shine and respect and love and compensation that they deserve for going out there and putting their life on the line,” Lillard said.

“They were going to be known whether I said something or not…but maybe people who follow me who don’t follow boxing see how passionate I am, and they might tap into the sport. I’m just glad I can bring that factor into the situation.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.