Damian Lillard slams boxing world with four words after Lorenzo “Truck” Simpson's loss to Raiko Santana

Don't get me wrong. Damian Lillard is one of the greatest and toughest basketball players to ever step on an NBA court. His nerves know no strain. When it all depends on one throw, it's usually Lillard who fearlessly dives in. His outstanding clutch performances have made “Dame Time” the norm. But his competitive spirit doesn't come from his bond with basketball. As his trainer once said: “He's a professional basketball player.”.

Lillard's favorite sport has always been boxing. The brutality and warrior spirit of the boxers resonated with him from the days when he and his family used to watch high-profile matches together. He has followed the sport ever since. No matter how highly publicized or unpublicized the match is, Dame actively follows the events of the sport. Similarly, he watched the shocking bout between middleweights Lorenzo “Truck” Simpson and Raiko Santana. The result left many people, including members of the NBA Top 75, perplexed. Lillard strongly expressed his dissatisfaction.

“They should be ashamed.” Damian Lillard reiterated that in an Instagram story after Santana's upset win over Simpson.

This fight was supposed to be Santana's revenge. Dazn promoted the fight as such. They seemed to root for the popular fighter. But the beauty of being an underdog is that it's unpredictable. Santana took advantage of his position and held his own against a 14-2 opponent. The fight went into overtime, a tradition that has only happened twice before in the OTX format.

The final round was also a tough call, but Santana won by split decision, ending Trak's chances of revenge.

Damian Lillard knows martial arts

To say Damian Lillard is just a boxing fan is an understatement. Dame Dora is a trained fighter who makes sure to hone his fighting skills every off-season. He incorporates the sport into his off-season training routine, which has had amazing results for his conditioning and stamina. But that's not all.

Lillard studied combat sports and learned how to evaluate fights with optimism. In 2020, he called Teofimo Lopez's exhilarating victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko, who had only lost once before that bout. Even former pound-for-pound champion Andre Ward couldn't predict the outcome, but Lillard predicted the upset beforehand and let Ward know after the fight.

Santana's win was met with mixed reviews, but some boxing fans saw it as a well-deserved win for him. Maybe Lillard's passion got the better of his usually calm demeanor, or maybe he just didn't see the fight the way the others did. Either way, it was clear whose side Dame was on, and losing always frustrates the NBA superstar.

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