Kenyon Martin Shuts Down 50 Cent's Claim That He'll Fight Former NBA Rival Tim Thomas: Exclusive
Fif touted the fight as a possible undercard for the Chris Brown vs. Soulja Boy boxing match, but Martin tells Billboard: "I'm a 39-year-old grown-ass man ... I moved on."
For the past two weeks, 50 Cent has been tirelessly promoting Chris Brown and Soulja Boy's boxing match on Instagram. In addition to that bout, he has also been advocating for several fights to serve as potential undercard matches, including former NBA players Kenyon Martin and Tim Thomas.
But according to Martin, there's no fight going down between him and his former adversary.
"Don't be part of the circus, dog," Martin told Billboard at Ice Cube's BIG3 3-on-3 press conference. "You know what they say if you entertain clowns, right? If you entertain clowns, you become part of the circus. I'm a 39-year-old grown-ass man, dog. If that was going to happen, I would have took care of it seven years ago. I moved on. I got kids at home. I don't got time for that. It's childish. It's just people reaching for something to talk about. I'm not gonna entertain that."
Last week, 50 Cent mentioned on Instagram that he added Martin and Thomas as openers for the Brown and Soulja Boy fight. "From the NBA, we got Tim Thomas and Kenyon Martin. They got an old beef and they want it settled. Between me and you, they done ran up to each other on the street a couple of times. N---as got mushed. All kind of sh-- happened. They really need to go ahead and get that sh-- off their chest."
Thomas and Martin's beef stems from their competitive battle in the opening round of the 2004 Eastern Conference Playoffs. Martin played for the New Jersey Nets, while Thomas was on the New York Knicks. Toward the end of the fourth quarter of Game 1, Martin's teammate, Jason Collins, knocked Thomas to the ground and injured him. Thomas left the game in a stretcher and was ruled out for the duration of the series. Vexed by the Nets' dirty play, Thomas called Martin "fugazi" to New York reporters. Martin returned the favor by cutting out a copy of the New York Post's headline that read "Whiny Tim" and plastered it onto this practice jersey for all of the media to see.
After several heated run-ins, the two settled their differences in Los Angeles, according to Thomas in an interview he gave to Scoop B Radio back in May. “We’re both grown, got our own kids,” Thomas said at the time. “There’s no need to go in that direction. When I had interviews, I had the option of making things ugly and I didn’t. I never really told anyone what really went down.
In that same interview, Thomas alluded to wanting to fight Martin, but for a charitable cause. “Brother, let’s get in the ring,” Thomas said. “Let’s get in the ring! I know you got some charities you can send the money to. I’ve got plenty of kids to help out, plenty of organizations. We could give it to charity. Or we can get some boxing promoters. I can call Floyd and we can get this off my chest once and for all. And the world will see what type of individual he is all at one time.”