In a story called "Fist Impressions" in the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated, author Michael McKnight explores punching in non-fighting sports and brings up two cases familiar to locals.
Nick Emery's punch of Utah's Brandon Taylor earlier this basketball season and Kai Nacua's brawling with Memphis after the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl are examined by McKnight in a story that has not yet been published online.
He categorized Emery's punch as a "sucker punch" and noted that "Emery's punch that night seems to have affected Taylor less than it has the millions of screen-gazers who have seen it."
Of the brawl fight the bowl game, McKnight wrote, "When Nacua landed and danced away from the scrum, he didn't look angry. He looked puzzled."
McKnight cites research from University of Utah biologist David Carrier and Washington and Jefferson professor Jonathan Gottschall to explain the role of DNA in humans' urge to punch and includes commentary from both researchers on Emery's and Nacua's punches, among other cases from sports.
Carrier said of Taylor, "My first reaction is that the player who got punched was incredibly calm. I expect him to explode off the floor in a rage and go after the guy."