Bruce Lee vs Muhammad Ali

[Dixie]

"Lee was trained in boxing, between 1956 and 1958, by Brother Edward, coach of the St. Francis Xavier's College boxing team. Lee went on to win the Hong Kong Schools boxing tournament in 1958 while scoring knockdowns against the previous champion Gary Elms in the final." - Wikipedia

[Steve Carlton]

I'm working on my table tennis game with nunchucks. So far, I've hit the ping pong ball once, and myself in the head 7 times. Getting there.

Edit- the table tennis was fake- done for a commercial. I'm relieved and have canceled my quest.

[Tobra]

7 years and 11 months, thread killer?

More like thread necromancer
Ali in his prime would take Tyson, or that is what he would tell you. Mike knows boxing

Ali would be tough for someone his size, give Ali 50 pounds.

I remember the first time I ever saw my brother in law was in a country western bar, 5'7" 150 pound guy. Great big guy keeps knocking off this little guy's cowboy hat, 4 or 5 times, then little guy hit that big guy hard enough it looked a cartoon or something, parallel to the ground, out before he landed. Gal hustled him out of there before it was clear if big guy was still in a position a doctor could be of assistance. It was incredible.

Ali had long arms, lightning in his hands

[rcooled]

Just for fun. From the film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

"What if you fought Cassius Clay...who would win?"
-off screen voice to 'Bruce Lee'

"...I'd make him a cripple."

"I think you should be embarrassed to suggest that you'd be anything more than a stain on the seat of Cassius Clay's trunks."
-'Cliff Booth' .

[gregpark]

Would be an unfair fight and no contest, Lee might be floored by an Ali jab. Remember the gimmick fight Ali did against a heavyweight martial arts champion? The guy knew he was out of his league, just laid on his back and tried to kick Ali

[DonDavis]

So true. It’s a non-answerable debate.

Folks believe what they want to believe.

Ain’t nothing changing that.

In both their primes, I believe Ali, no question would win.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Some amazing stuff here.

The most amazing feat in that video by far was the exhibition with Victor Moore, 3 years after he died.

[lukeh]

I think many are discounting the HUGE size difference.

Ali is roughly 8 inches taller and 100+ pounds heavier. Ali took punches from the likes of George Forman and Fraizer. I don't think a fly weight hitting him is going to do much. I think once Ali gets his hands on him it is over.

[astrochex]

I understand the weight difference but kinetic energy is a function of velocity squared and Bruce seemed to excel in that element. Fun discussion.

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by rcooled

Just for fun. From the film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

For me- best scene in the movie, and there's a lot of them.

[DonDavis]

Then again, BL might’ve been like a Spider Monkey climbing all over Ali.

Poking at his eyes, pulling his hair, shrieking.

Until Ali grabbed him by throat and put a stop to it. haha

[GH85Carrera]

Physical size makes a huge difference. They have the fly weight and other weights in boxing for a legitimate reason. Physics of size and strength are unarguable.

[Jeff Higgins]

A much repeated urban legend when I was a kid was that the Irish footballer, Georgie Best, beat the hell out of Bruce Lee one day in a pub. True or not, I cannot say. Sure had some staying power, though.

I believe that Bruce Lee refused to get in the ring for a real match against Chuck Norris who, at the time, was an actual champion in some discipline.

What is true is that Chuck Zito, former HA and bodyguard to the stars (most notably Liza Minelli), actually did beat the living daylights out of Jean Claude Van Damme in a New York night club one day. Zito had been told that Van Damme was talking smack about him, so he hopped on his bike and motored across town. Folks who saw it said it wasn't even a contest. Zito was apparently an accomplished amateur boxer, as was his dad.

I remember a time before MMA when there was a much more disciplined game involving "martial arts". They fought in a regular boxing ring. They actually had to implement rules requiring a minimum number of kicks to be thrown in each round. Without that rule, it had been no more than a boxing match. Trying to land a kick, and exposing one's self to that degree, had that low of a return on investment. The boxers won. Every time.

MMA introduced grappling to the mix. One must now have a "ground game". Bruce Lee did not, it was not a part of the repertoire in those days. Grappling would not have figured into this match. That leaves boxing and kicking. As such, at twice his size and with similar hand speed, Ali would have destroyed Lee. I would go so far as to say it would have beed irresponsible to even set up such a match. Assuming they got serious in the ring, that is.

[Zeke]

I have not watched MMA. I have not seen martial arts competition in person. Other than all the stunts in movies it seems MA fighters will stay engaged. That was not Ali's style.

[GH85Carrera]

I saw a video of some MMA open competition day long ago. A top MMA fighter went up against a 400 pound car salesman. The car salesman ran over, and piked up the much smaller MMA fighter, threw him down and lay on top of him, and started punching. The physical size mismatch was just too much and the MMA guy tapped out.

There is also a story of Andre the giant was drinking with friends, all professional wrestlers. Two of the professional wrestlers pulled some gag on Andre, and it really truly got him mad. He picked each of the guys up off the ground at arms length, and carried them to the beach and was about to drown them when enough other people convinced Andre he was about to commit double murder. So he let them go. After that they all knew do not make Andre really mad.

[Jeff Higgins]

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Mike Tyson, prior to a fight with Evander Holyfield.

It's important to remember that Bruce Lee was never in a real fight. Oh, some say he fought on the streets as a kid, boxed once in school or something, blah blah blah. He was an actor.

A large part of fighting is heart. How a guy reacts to getting hit. Ali was noted for his ability to absorb an unusual amount of punishment while continuing to fight. No one has ever said that about Bruce Lee, nor did he ever choose to put himself in any sort of position to demonstrate that ability. Quite the contrary, he avoided the ring at all costs, for his entire life. He was an actor.

[gsxrken]

The GOAT boxer versus an actor is sort of a non starter discussion. A better one would be could a similarly small but accomplished Muay Thai fighter defeat a heavyweight boxer like Ali, and that answer is more nuanced. I saw someone vomit moments after getting blasted in the thigh from an insane leg kick. No boxer has trained for elbows, knees, and low kicks, but with enough size asymmetry they could probably afford to eat a few of those before they manage to close and trap the kickboxer in the corner and commence destroying them.

[Zeke]

[Rodsrsr]

Size definitely matters but mainly when both guys are trained. A high level professional MMA fighter should absolutely destroy an untrained larger opponent regardless of size. The athleticism and technique these guys possess is unreal.

It gets nuanced though, for example. the 400 lb. car salesman mentioned above. What what his experience level? Did he wrestle, play sports, lift weights, etc.... Andre the giant was a professional athlete so its somewhat moot, but in general training/technique will overcome size if the larger opponent is untrained. (its the very reason martial arts exist) Just being big will only help you against another untrained person, unless other disparities (like age) exist.

[pwd72s]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQKrmDLvijo&ab_channel=eltoro