Karl-Anthony Towns channels boxing greats to describe New York Knicks’ NBA championship run

As an encore to the New York Knicks completing the largest comeback in NBA Finals history in Game 4, the resilient squad clinched the league’s championship with another rallying win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 on Saturday night.

The aftermath of their resounding win had Knicks’ All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns channeling some of boxing’s biggest stars and fights in describing his team’s mettle through these Finals.

“Sometimes you gotta get it out the mud,” Towns told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter in the wee hours of Sunday morning following the Knicks’ first NBA title win in 53 years. “Sometimes you gotta have that Floyd Mayweather full-championship round fight, you gotta have that Gennadiy Golovkin vs. Canelo [Alvarez], you gotta be able to have those moments when you come back from adversity.

“Floyd Mayweather vs. Zab Judah, Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley, we gotta be able to fight.”

In referencing those bouts, Towns is recognizing how GGG and Canelo vigorously traded punches through 36 rounds of their trilogy. He’s also saluting Mayweather for his ability to take a big punch and keep on punching back.

The second round of Mayweather’s April 2006 fight against Judah had the Brooklyn native firing a lightning-quick check hook that forced Mayweather’s glove to touch the canvas, though it wasn’t ruled a flash knockdown. Mayweather recovered enough to author a unanimous decision.

His May 2010 fight against Mosley had Mosley buckle Mayweather’s knees with a raucous overhand right in the second round, though the boxing legend would regain his bearings enough to execute another unanimous decision.

The Spurs had the Knicks reeling on the ropes, leading comfortably in every game of the Finals, but not enough to deliver the knockout punch that New York wound up tendering instead.

“We got good chins, man,” Towns also offered. “We’re just trying to stay in the fight, man.”

Saturday night, they won the fight.