Chris Childs Remembers Epic Fight With Kobe Bryant: 'I Didn't Want to Knock Him Out'

Chris Childs talks about the time he punched Kobe Bryant back in 2000 in the middle of a Knicks/Lakers game.

Chris Childs punches Kobe Bryant.
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Chris Childs punches Kobe Bryant.

It’s been almost 17 years now since Chris Childs and Kobe Bryant got into a fight in the middle of a Knicks/Lakers game in April 2000, and people still talk about it like it happened yesterday.

We did an entire frame-by-frame breakdown of the fight to celebrate the 15th anniversary of it, and Childs himself has gone on the record a couple times since it took place to talk about what happened. And with all of the controversy swirling around the Knicks right now thanks to the fiasco that took place between Knicks owner James Dolan and ex-Knicks star Charles Oakley last week, Childs stopped by ESPN’s True Hoop podcast on Monday to talk about his time with the Knicks, the Dolan/Oakley situation, and of course, his fight with Kobe.

In the past, Childs has maintained that he could have done a lot more damage to Kobe during their fight if he wanted to. According to him, he could have hit Kobe harder than he did. And while speaking with the True Hoop crew, he stuck to that story and said that his 2-piece could have been even more devastating than it was.

"If you watch the tape, he elbowed me twice," Childs said. "He started it. I looked at the ref and said, 'Are you gonna do something about this?' He put his hands out like, 'Whatever.' I’m like, 'Okay, no problem, I got this.' We run up and down the court and I say, 'Young fella, if you do that again, I’m gonna take off on you. I’m gonna take off.' And he said, 'You aren’t going to do that.' When you watch the tape, when he comes around a pick, he kind of lightweight head butts me to get me off. Once he did that, he’s taller than me and I’m in striking distance. I took off on him. I didn’t want to knock him out, because I could have. But if I did, I’d still be suspended right now. I didn’t put the shoulder in or lean in to it. I didn’t want to hurt him."

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Amazingly, Childs was only suspended for two games and fined $15,000 for the fight. Kobe, meanwhile, was suspended for one game and fined $5,000. Can you imagine what would happen if a fight like the one that took place between Childs and Kobe took place in 2017?

Go here to check out Childs’ entire appearance on the True Hoop podcast.

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