April 23, 2025
Provided Image/Uprising Promotions
Former NBA player Michael Carter-Williams, who won Rookie of the Year with the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2013-14 season, will make his amateur boxing debut May 29 in New York City for a fight that will benefit people recovering from substance abuse.
After a decadelong NBA career, former Sixers guard Michael Carter-Williams is headed to the boxing ring next month to make his amateur debut in a fight that will benefit people recovering from substance abuse.
Carter-Williams, 33, earned Rookie of the Year honors with the Sixers after the team selected him with the 11th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. He was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks the next season as the Sixers began their Trust the Process era, and he won on six teams before he retired, playing his last NBA game in 2023.
Carter-Williams began training as a fighter in Florida and recently came to the attention of Uprising Promotions, the group organizing the Broad Street Brawl benefit on May 29 in New York City. Carter-Williams will face amateur boxer Sam Khativ in a three-round, heavyweight bout at the Léman Ballroom. Proceeds will go to Bigvision Community, a New York-based nonprofit that offers peer resources and programs for young people overcoming addiction.
"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," promoter Ronson Frank told ESPN. "He thought the cause was really good and wanted to be a part of it."
Before entering the NBA, Carter-Williams was a star on the Syracuse University team that reached the NCAA Final Four in 2013. In his debut season with the Sixers, he averaged 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. He became an NBA journeyman after the trade the next season and had other stints in Chicago, Charlotte and Houston before finishing his career with the Orlando Magic, where he played for four years.
In a story for the Players Tribune last year, Carter-Williams wrote about how his trade out of Philly was hard on him because he thought he was part of the Sixers' long-term plans. In later years, as injuries hampered his basketball career, he said he battled depression and anxiety trying to live up to his early success.
"When I look back on everything, my mental health is like a puzzle I had to piece together to unlock a better life," Carter-Williams wrote.
Frank told ESPN Carter-Williams' fight against Khativ, 36, may be the start of a promising new chapter in the boxing ring.
"He is very prideful, athletic, and I think he can do well as an amateur fighter," Frank said. "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."
