“I’ve been beating up old men in the park for ten years” – Delonte West on preparing to fight Michael Beasley

Delonte West has had a rough time since playing in the league, having had public battles involving addiction and homelessness. But now he is trying to get his life back on track.

West, who last played in the league in 2012, is set to face fellow former NBA player Michael Beasley at Adin Ross’ Brand Risk 16 event in Miami. While the fight might be way different from the battles the two shared on the court years ago, both actually have some fighting experience, in one way or another.

West’s homelessness helped him prepare for the fight

In the pre-fight press conference, West explained why he is more than prepared to fight Beasley in the ring, citing his experience battling his own demons and others on the streets in recent years. His words prompted laughter from Beasley.

“I’ve been training for the last ten years, living on the street, homeless, as an addict,” West shared. “Man, I fight you over 20 cents. I’ve been beating up old men in the park for ten years.”

As unfortunate as it sounds, West did fight to survive in recent years, and it’s clear he was involved in a few fights during that time. Brand Risk is not a professional boxing event, by any means, which means that his experience might just be enough to make the fight competitive.

Beasley, on the other hand, has an MMA fight on his resume. He notably fought Lance Stephenson in 2024 at Brand Risk 14. However, he lost by submission in the first round via a rear-naked choke.

West vs. Beasley

As random as the matchup looks on paper, both actually grew up together and have had their fair share of hard moments on the court. Beasley even sympathized with West’s struggles with homelessness in the past.

The 43-year-old West sees Beasley as a younger brother, whose success in recent years has almost become a point of envy for him, one that he can’t wait to unleash in the ring on October 16.

“Over the last couple of years, people come up to me at the bus stop, they be like, ‘Man, Mike doing his thing in the Big 3, you check him out?’ I say some s—t like, ‘I’m gon put that n—a down when I see him,” he said

“He like my little brother. You know the little brother always get bigger than the big brother,” West continued. “You don’t need no reason to beat your little brother up.”

For all the struggles he went through in recent years, a fight against someone he has already played against might not be intimidating for West. In fact, this might just be the right thing to do as he continues to get his life back together.

Related: “Nobody’s practicing until he eats breakfast” – Delonte West on how Celtics handled his four-day manic episodes