Craziest or Stupidest You've Heard Non-Boxing Fans Say About Boxing

I admit, with Bruce Lee it's very hard to separate truth from fiction. He's very much a Paul Bunyan type figure. That said, even if 10% of what they say is true (it's likely more), he would've participated in some dojo challenge matches. He was very much about proving his style was the best, in the early years that was Wing Chun, and then later the art form he called Jeet Kune Do. So it's hard to say, but I think it goes without saying he probably had a number of street fight and challenge matches. As I said before, Ali could win, but I certainly wouldn't call it the craziest thing if I heard someone say a Martial Artist would beat a boxer.

 

I didn't think it was that crazy. Floyd was forty years old with bad hands and two years of ring rust, fighting a guy a full weight class bigger, in his absolute prime, at the top of another sport with a skill set that (I'd argue) is considerably transferable.
It's not like he was fighting a weightlifter.

Frankly I think it could go the other way too. If (say) Golovkin trained for a year in takedown defense I think he'd be a very live underdog to knock out McGreggor in an MMA match.

 

That's a fair point but McGregor had recently sparred Chris van Heeren who I'd say is a lesser fighter than even a 40 year old Floyd and reports say that van Heerden schooled him. The actual fight was far, far more competitive than I'd expected and its clear that Conor had either been playing possum or had drastically upgraded his boxing in the interim.

I'd say that Golovkin might give Conor something to think about indeed, since he has a wrestling background Here's a recent bit of fun:

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Ah. I have to admit I didn't know of the reports about Chris van Heerden.

 

Was hoping to clean up on that fight but even the casuals I know weren’t clueless enough to think McGregor had a real chance.

 

Do you have any links to film or official records of Bruce Lees legitimate fights and what caliber the opponents were?

 

As you'll notice above, I said he's a Paul Bunyan type figure where it's hard to separate reality from fiction. There is very little video of him but it's a lot of stuff like this:

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Who's to say, maybe some of that happened maybe none.

sparring demonstration videos

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It's likely some of the stuff is made up or exaggerated. However as the famous saying goes, where there is smoke there is fire. Even if only 10% is true, that would still make him much more diversified in his art forms, and give him a chance in a fight against any boxer. As I stated, people don't realize how foreign it is for a boxer to deal with kicks. How many times do people need to see a boxer fight another artists and lose decisively before they realize how out of their element they are in such fights?

 

Me too ... Been playing the book my whole life … In my top 5 all time easiest bets I've ever made ..

 

I think Bruce Lee has been the subject of more legends and stories than anyone else in combat arts, to the point it starts to strain belief. You're totally right - we have no proof, aside from some old B&W footage at one of the tournaments in California, of what Lee looked like in terms of fighting. Lots of stories, always from friends and training partners, but aside from that - nada. Along with that, his training: reports of him doing hundreds of one-arm pullups, lifting ridiculous amounts of weight (there are published copies of his actual training records, in his own handwriting; 35lb dumbbell curls are not legendary) ... I'd wager even Bruce himself would be embarrassed at the fanboys adulation.

What we can give him credit for: popularizing martial arts. The concepts of Jeet Kun Do are extremely valid, and I think formed the foundation for modern MMA. But turning him into some kind of superbeing doesn't do anyone any kind of service.

 

Perhaps an important thing to add is that Bruce Lee said himself he couldn't beat Ali in a fight. He said Ali would kill him.

 

Yeah, I saw a couple of Shannon Briggs kick boxing fights and Silvia-Mercer. **** was brutal.

 

“Don’t you find it a little odd how they seem to be able to get out of the way of almost all the punches?? Sure looks to me like they know when they are supposed to punch and dodge”.

 

I'd go just a couple inches farther than your last two sentences. Whether not Bruce Lee could actually fight even a little (and it is dubious) I think it's nonetheless pretty clear he had very fast hands and was uncommonly athletic.

For instance there's a scene in Enter the Dragon where he climbs about fifteen feet of rope using only his arms, with his legs held straight out at a right angle to his abdomen. I tried to copy this feat when I was sixteen and couldn't even come close even though I could easily do 25 strict form pull-ups at the time. (I don't recall if he did it all in one camera shot but he did it for at least a few feet with seemingly little effort, and even that's very difficult.)

 

Butterbean was an ATG. Muhammad Ali was never any good because he lost to Trevor Berbick.

 

Ya gotsta know the right sort of casuals