Metta World Peace is looking to help others through boxing, a sport he is passionate about.
The former NBA standout, formerly known as Ron Artest, will manage Chordale Booker along with Paul Guarino of PG Sports. Peace, who won an NBA championship with the 2009-10 Los Angeles Lakers, is a long-time boxing fan, and now prepared to join the business side of the sport.
“I have been involved [in boxing] for a long time, but never from an organized perspective,” Peace said. “Now, I think it is perfect timing.”
Artest’s father, Ronald, has three recorded fights on his BoxRec page. His only recorded loss is to Anthony Zampelli, a man who would lose to Mitch Green, a former Mike Tyson opponent, in the 1976 New York Golden Gloves. He stopped fighting in 1977 and had Peace in 1979.
“When Mike Tyson had his first loss, my whole house was crying literally,” Peace told BoxingScene. “I was crying, my mom was crying, my dad was pissed.”
Still, there were enough fond memories of the sport for Artest to gravitate into this world. This early passion for boxing paved the way for his involvement in the sport.
Peace recalls walking Sergio Mora to the ring ahead of his bout with Shane Mosley in 2010.
Booker is a junior middleweight contender who was stopped by titleholder Sebastian Fundora in March. After that bout, Booker knocked out Patrick Allotey in August. When asked why he wants to work with Booker, he explained.
“When you look at [Booker’s] story and his work ethic, especially with how boxing is going now, he is going to get his shot,” insisted Artest. ““When you have an opportunity to grow with someone, just like when I was coaching Cal State L.A., we started as a team, but we changed the dynamic, we changed the conversation, and we changed the culture.”
One of Peace’s best attributes as an NBA player was his ability to help lead a locker room. He will use some of the experience he learned from his career.
“In this situation, I am managing, so I am going to be transparent and honest to make people better,” Peace said. “Not in the way that it would tear them down.”
Peace, known as a high motor player in the NBA, also recalled that he was underrated for some of his traits.
“To be 260lbs and stopping people that are 220lbs, that isn’t just all-out physical hustle, that is angles and skill,” Peace said. “I moved like a boxer. The way I was low on my fundamentals on defense, and my anticipation.”
Since his days of playing in the NBA, Peace has gone on to start various businesses, as well as being a basketball coach. He aims to bring these experiences to boxing to help him guide Booker.
Boxing is the sport in which underdogs thrive, and Peace hopes to take the knowledge he learned from his playing career and his life lessons to help Booker achieve his dream of becoming a titleholder.
“At the end of my career, I became more cerebral,” Peace said. “All of it came together, my physicality, my mental prep, my determination.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.