Charles Barkley and Denver Nuggets analyst Scott Hastings have a more than 30-year-old feud that may result in a boxing match.
During a Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons game in 1990, Barkley squared off with noted “Bad Boy” Bill Laimbeer, sparking a brawl between both teams. With Barkley on the ground under a pile of players, Hastings, then a bench player for the Pistons, could be seen taking a swing at Sir Charles.
Last season, Hastings, who is now an analyst for the Nuggets, joined the NBA on TNT to discuss the incident and admitted the swing at Barkley was a “sucker punch.” At some point, Hastings and Barkley appeared to have decided on May 19, 2023, for a redo of their skirmish, because Hastings joined the NBA on TNT again this week and Shaquille O’Neal kept hyping the date like a fight promoter.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1600373851040321539
“I’m trying to live my life like Gandhi,” Hastings said on TNT Tuesday night. “And all of a sudden I got Charles Barkley coming up here spreading noise. Hey, I can lose that moniker for a little bit if we have to on May 19th.”
Barkley, however, sounded a bit more hesitant regarding the idea of a fight with Hastings next May.
Charles Barkley: "Nobody should be fighting past 12" as they cut to Chuck and Laimbeer fighting while Scott Hastings sucker punches him in the head pic.twitter.com/NaDcyuZlaC
— hoops bot (@hoops_bot) December 7, 2022
“First of all, we’re both too old to be fighting,” Barkley declared as Shaq continued to promote their upcoming bout on May 19th.
Barkley noted that he’ll be turning 60 in a few months, while Hastings is already 62 years old. “Nobody should be fighting past like the age of 12,” Barkley said attempting to backpedal his way out of the pending boxing match.
That’s a bold statement from Barkley, who threw hands a few times on and off the basketball court during his NBA career. Laimbeer, Charles Oakley, Vernon Maxwell, a 5-foot-2 construction worker at a bar, and even Shaq make the list of people Barkley threw hands with during his playing career, long after he turned 12.
But whether Barkley relishes the opportunity to take a swing at Hastings next month, or he continues to backpedal out of the match remains to be seen.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com