Newlywed Lamar Odom at Training Camp

During media day on Tuesday (Sept. 29), Lakers forward Lamar Odom seemed uncomfortable when questioned about his marriage to reality star and socialite Khloe Kardashain on Sunday (Seot. 27), although he appared more relaxed when talking about the upcoming season. Odom turns 30 in November and revealed that he spent his summer working out at a West Los Angeles gym, taking up boxing. Said Odom, “If I can just turn my leg–Boom!–and knock you out with my right hand, I’ve got to be able to make a layup with my right hand,” before continuing to explain, “I needed something really combative. It made me think of defense. It was all footwork. It just made me think about competing at the highest level. It was one-on-one. I don’t get tired. I get my second wind easily.”

Although Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson said Odom is “in better shape than he’s been in before,” he joked, “I don’t give any attributes to boxing class.” Odom also quipped, “I’m just waiting for somebody to act up a little bit, one of these teams. I’m going to sneak on real close range to–bink!” before reiterating, “Naw, I would never fight on the court. But it brings something out of you that I can’t explain. Especially defensive, I wanted to become a better defender. Maybe because we were getting Ron [Artest], I want to be able to complement him defensively, Kobe [Bryant] and Pau [Gasol] and all those guys.”

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Posted in General on October 2, 2009

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