Home » Former NBA player Michael Carter-Williams to make boxing debut

Former NBA player Michael Carter-Williams to make boxing debut

2014 NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams will make his amateur boxing debut May 29 in New York.

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Carter-Williams to make boxing debut

Carter-Williams, 33, will face 36-year-old Sam Khativ in a three-round heavyweight bout at the Leman Ballroom.

Called the Broad Street Brawl, the boxing event will raise funds for Bigvision Community, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting young adults in recovery from substance abuse.

“[Carter-Williams] came on my radar about two months ago,” Ronson Frank of Uprising Promotions told ESPN.

“One of the fighters initially who signed up to fight at the event recommended Carter-Williams as somebody who might be interested, and we were connected. He thought the cause was really good, and wanted to be a part of it.”

NBA career

Carter-Williams was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 11th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

The 6-foot-5 point guard averaged 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in his rookie season, earning Rookie of the Year honors and appearing to be a future cornerstone for the franchise.

However, the Sixers traded Carter-Williams to the Milwaukee Bucks just a season later.

Over the next five years, he played for five different teams — moving from Philadelphia to Milwaukee, then to Chicago, Charlotte, and Houston — before landing in Orlando during the 2018–19 season, where he remained until the end of his career.

Carter-Williams played his final NBA game in 2023 and officially announced his retirement in October 2024.

The Syracuse product wrapped up his career with averages of 10.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game.

Frank told ESPN that he recently heard about Carter-Williams training in Florida and believes this may not be a one-off attempt.

“It all depends on how this one goes,” Frank said.

“He is very prideful, athletic, and I think he can do well as an amateur fighter. If he’s going pro, then that’s a whole different animal. You have to be a world-class athlete to make it in the NBA, and if he has that same dedication to boxing, along with his natural athletic ability, he has the potential to do well.”