“I’m tired of everybody bickering” – Tony Allen reveals how Paul Pierce made the Boston Celtics settle conflicts by boxing originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Some members of the 2008 Boston Celtics team have told stories about how they would work out their differences with a pair of boxing gloves. Among them was defensive guard Tony Allen, who revealed that it was Paul Pierce who started it all.
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Allen implied that it’s very likely that everything his teammates publicly said about the boxing gloves was true. However, Allen once felt compelled to share how the bizarre trend began.
According to Allen, there was one moment when Pierce called out one of their teammates for being lazy. Instead of giving the player a lecture, Pierce opted to address the issue in a unique and, what he believed was a more effective way, boxing it out with some gloves on.
“Yeah, man. The boxing gloves were definitely an idea from Paul Pierce,” Allen told NBA.com in 2019 when asked about the boxing gloves. “All I can remember is him bothering Patrick O’Bryant. Patrick O’Bryant was in there eating breakfast, and Paul Pierce didn’t like that he was eating breakfast before he got his workout in. He thought he should’ve been out there in the gym working with him, instead of chilling in there lounging.”
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“He said, ‘You know what, from now on I ain’t gonna raise my voice at nobody,'” Allen remembered. “He said, ‘If I’ve got a problem, we’re putting on the gloves.’ I found it real funny man. I’m like, ‘Yo, P, this dude is 7-feet tall and you’re trying to put some gloves on this athletic frame here?’ He was like, ‘I’ve got gloves for everybody because I’m tired of everybody bickering.'”
Pierce bought every size of boxing glove
Though Pierce’s idea was outrageous in many ways, almost the entire Celtics squad bought into it, it was no secret that the ’08 Celtics regularly argued with one another and everybody thought fighting could help end their squabbles.
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Allen also noted that Pierce made it a point that every player on the team would get the chance to settle his dispute with another teammate. To ensure fairness, Allen said Pierce bought different sizes of boxing gloves.
“Just in case, he had all sizes,” Allen added of Pierce.
The most infamous boxing match in Boston
It’s difficult to figure out how many Celtics players actually put the gloves on and scrapped. However, one of the most infamous bouts that took place was between Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo.
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Allen and Rondo admittedly did not see eye-to-eye during their tenure in Boston. They often clashed with each other as both of them had contrasting ideas and opinions about certain matters.
In another account, former Celtics big man Glen Davis revealed that Allen and Rondo really “boxed it out.” Even in boxing, Davis said Allen and Rondo had opposite styles.
“They put on gloves and really threw hands. You could just tell Rondo was trying to knock his [Allen’s] head off,” Davis once vividly recalled. “Ray was jabbing.”
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Whether Pierce’s introduction of fighting with boxing gloves within the Celtics team worked or not is hard to tell. However, it seems like it did not affect the team’s performance during that period.
Despite the internal conflicts, the C’s chemistry on the court remained intact. In retrospect, maybe they really did just need to box their issues away at the time.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 19, 2025, where it first appeared.