who would win a fight: bruce lee or muhammad ali?

got this discussion going on in another board i post on.

what do you guys reckon?

i'll chime in later since i just need to cut and paste me main points for my opinion

Well given that Bruce Lee is dead, I'm thinking not very difficult for Ali to win now Presuming you mean both of them in their prime though - I think Bruce would win easily, he was so fast that Ali would never have got near him.

our perceptions of bruce lee fighting come from films, it's much harder to fight when you haven';t chroeographed what you and your opponents are going to do

for a big ****er ali was ridiculously fast. i don't think you'll find many 6"4 218 guys who can throw a jab so fast a TV camera can't track it

Even with choreographing and camera cuts you still need to be good to pull some of that off

Bruce Lee - forget what he did on film, there has been much written about Bruce's fighting skills as a martial artist and not a film star and from what I have read, including many first hand witnesses, I believe Bruce would defeat Ali. His speed would be far too much for Ali to handle and his knowledge of strikes would incapacitate Ali in no time. There's no doubt that Ali would have a puncher's chance but boxer's are notorious for struggling badly in environments which allow attacks to the legs and the use of legs for striking.

when you think realistialy about the 2 of these men fighting then it doesnt take to much time to figure out that Lee would have beaten Ali, not easily, but never the less in a short amount of time. Why?

simple, because Lee had a mixed martial arts bag, and most of his attacks came from using his body, and most of the time is legs! i seen a porgrame once were lee was saying why his style was better than boxing, simply showing that his legs, have more hitting power, can be faster, but most importantly, have a longer reach than a boxers Jab

also lee can knock u off ur feet with 1 inch punching distance!

Ali would have lost, unless he was able to hit that one puch, but i dnt think he owuld have got that close!

no one cares that ali was about a foot taller and weighed close to 100 lbs more than lee?

or the fact that ali had over 50 pro fights and won the olympic gold medal whereas lee might have known his stuff but his actual fighting career came second by far to his acting.

being able to look good in a fighting style and being able to handle using it against a real opponent are 2 very different things...

btw that 1 inch lee punch thing is total bollocks. for a start it's like a shove not a punch and 2nd i doubt ali would be standing around like a lost puppy for 40 seconds facing square on whilst lee got himself in the perfect position to land a clean shot.

just a hunch I have

my original post in the other thread:


as a former boxer i may be biased but looking at a few considerations:

ali's fighting weight was usually in the high 2 hundred and teen pounds.
lee weighed close to 100 lbs less. ali had MUCH more power and would have been much harder for lee to inflict damage on or put down than ali would find it to hurt or put down lee.

lee was fast but for a big guy ali could really move too. we're not talking about some lumbering bruiser here we're talking about one of the fastest most agile boxers in their feet ever despite being a heavyweight

lee was nowhere near 6 foot whereas ali was well over 6 foot. lee would have no choice but to get in close which with a disadvantage like his reach to ali's would be both extremely difficult and once he was in there, he's in boxing territory especially for body shots and uppercuts. even if lee blocked body and head shots i'm sure ali would still hurt him extremely hard at the same time and again, uppercuts are extremely hard to see coming or to avoid at close quarters especially when you're fighting one of the greatest boxers in the world.

people saying lee would hit him so much ali would eventually just curl up and take it till he went down have obviously never seen him roll 7 rounds of goerge foreman's (a disgustingly hard hitter even by heavyweight standards) best hits right off of him only to KO him with one lightning quick flurry or go 12 rounds toe to toe with frazer with the both of them trading blows like a rocky fight.

plus the fact ali was a competition fighter, lee is known as a movie star. as much as he trained in martial arts, it's much easier to win when the guys are choreographed and paid to be knocked down especially when taking into account that predicting what throws your opponents going to throw is half the battle of any fight.

ali is used to that, lee is used to goiing: 1 punch 2 step to the side, 3 flip bad guy 2, 4 stamp on ribs, 5. spin and kick bad guy 1 etc.... aliis used to going: he drops his shoulder, i know what he's going to throw next, he drops his right arm everytime he throws that left jab , ill get in there next time etc...


i really don't think lee would stand a chance.

I guess we'll never know.

Just like to point out JIM, LOL

that Bruce lee is the guy that Trained Chuck Norris!!!!!! i dnt think ud dare say that Ali could take Chuck Norris!!!! as well all know, the only thing that can hurt Chuck Norris is Chuck Norris!