James Harden and Russell Westbrook aren't the only NBA All Stars who have been getting in a little combat sports training this off-season.
Just hours after video surfaced of the Houston Rockets' duo throwing some hands at the UFC Performance Institute, Damian Lillard took to instagram to share footage of his recent boxing session. And I must say, Dame was looking a whole lot more capable with his hands than The Bears and The Brodie.
The Blazers' All-NBA guard captioned the video by noting that he is "feeling anxious" ahead of the Errol Spence Jr. vs Shawn Porter title unification bout taking place next Saturday. He even tagged Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, for good measure.
Check out Dame's boxing skills in the video embedded below.
Spence, the IBF champ, is 25-0 in his career with 21 knockouts, while Porter, the reigning WBC champion, is 30-2-1 with 17 KOs. Spence has a 2½” height and 3” reach advantage and is listed as 9-1 favorite at some sport books.
That said, Porter recently noted that he is more than comfortable in the ring against bigger opponents.
Per Boxing Scene:
“I'm talking about guys like (former middleweight titlist) Daniel Jacobs, who fights at 160 pounds, 168 pounds now. I fought against Oleksandr Usyk, who is unified champion over there in the Ukraine, a heavyweight now. I fought him at 165 pounds back in the day when we were about 20 years old and beat him. I have wins against Jacobs and (unbeaten two-divisoin titlist) Demetrius Andrade. The experience is there. The experience against taller, bigger opponents is there.”
The two will duke it out in a welterweight unification match taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 28.