On July 20, 1973, the great martial arts movie star Bruce Lee mysteriously passed away in Hong Kong. A cerebral edema (swelling of the brain) had claimed the life of this extraordinarily gifted 32-year-old, who would achieve posthumous superstardom when his seminal movie ?Enter the Dragon? was released in theatres the following month.
Almost 8000 miles away, in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, Muhammad Ali was training hard to avenge his second professional defeat. Ken Norton, a former marine, had broken his jaw and outpointed him in March 1973 and if he could repeat the dosage then Ali?s career would be in serious jeopardy.
On Sept. 10, Ali scored a close split decision win over Norton at The Forum in Inglewood, California, which is only a half hours? drive from Grauman?s (Now TCL) Chinese Theater, where ?Enter the Dragon? had premiered 22 days earlier. Although indirect, that is perhaps the closest these two incredible forces of nature ever came to one another.
Both legends share an almost mystical fan affection; Lee because he was years ahead of his time as a martial artist and Ali because he was years ahead of his time as a heavyweight. With Ali?s recent passing, a fantasy fight between the two resurfaced in social media and this reporter thought it would be fun to explore a proposed ?Battle of Icons?.
If you didn?t know it, Lee was a massive boxing fan. In 1972, he was taped by one of his first generation students, Daniel Lee (no relation), while on a telephone conversation. During this chat, Lee can be heard referencing boxers for the first and, as far as this reporter is aware, only time in terms of available audio.
?Joe Frazier, there?s a man who is capable of using his tools and who is very determined in a savage relentless attack,? said Lee of the then-reigning heavyweight champion, before taking a swipe at one of Frazier?s predecessors. ?Have you seen kickboxing? I saw it in Thailand. Well, the problem with (them) is that they are the ?John L. Sullivans? of the feet. I mean, no finesse.?
One can understand where Lee is coming from but while Sullivan didn?t impress him, the likes of Muhammad Ali and Jersey Joe Walcott most certainly did. Former Lee students, and ?Game of Death? co-stars, Dan Inosanto and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, discussed Ali with their teacher on several occasions and the fluency of footwork was what always caught Lee?s eye.
Watch him in any of his movies and you?ll see frequent glimpses of swift lateral movement. Like Ali, Lee was electric when he got up on his toes and his grace was something to behold. That didn?t come from nowhere as Lee?s widow, Linda, recalls ?The Dragon? diligently studying Ali, as well as countless other boxing champions, on 8mm film.
During the 1960s, Lee also wrote a series of volumes and notes that would be assembled and released after his death in a book entitled ?The Tao of Jeet Kune Do?. This was the fighting system that Lee himself founded; an eclectic of ?effective? techniques from any and all forms of unarmed combat. Translated ?The Way of the Intercepting Fist?, an individual would use what worked best for them in terms of their size and stature. This philosophy was arguably the precursor to mixed martial arts.
?The lead jab is a ?feeler?,? writes Lee in a chapter of the book entitled ?Tools?. ?It is the basis of all other blows, a loose, easy stinger. It is a whip rather than a club. (Muhammad) Ali?s theory is to picture hitting a fly with a swatter.?
For Lee to reference Ali in his these unique writings speaks volumes about his appreciation of the eventual three-time heavyweight champion.
Ali fought outside of boxing rules only once and it was an unmitigated disaster. In June 1976, he ventured to Japan to take on a famous wrestler named Antonio Inoki. Why? Because $6 million is one very big motivator for what appeared to be an exhibition with hybrid rules and a joke-laden buildup. The problem was that Ali arrived at the Budokan Hall to face off with Inoki and nobody was laughing.
The heavyweight champ had trained briefly in Tae Kwon Do under the watchful eye of one of Bruce Lee?s closest friends, Grand Master Jhoon Rhee, and claimed to have developed the ?Accu-Punch?. He needn?t have bothered. Inoki was terrified of being knocked out and kicked at his opponent?s legs, while crawling around the canvas. Ali landed six left jabs in 15 rounds and was later hospitalized with blood clots. To credit this as a mixed martial arts event, as some do, is overpraise. It was carnival nonsense that ended in a draw because nobody knew what the hell to score and Ali should never have been involved.
So what if Ali and Lee had gotten together? Unlike the Inoki affair we can choose our rules. In a straight boxing match Lee, a 5-foot-7 lightweight, or junior welterweight at best, would have literally no chance. One punch from Ali could potentially break his neck and no rational person would claim otherwise. Western boxing was a part of Lee?s game, but he was no world champion and the weight differential makes such a matchup ludicrous to the point of being insulting.
Things change dramatically in a mixed martial arts bout. If Lee can use legs then he has the power, skill and quickness to hurt Ali badly. A sidekick to the knee is longer than any punch you care to mention and a boxer has no way of defending against it. I had thought about Lee grappling because pound-for-pound his strength was astonishing, but would he really have been stronger than Ali? Let?s be real here ? he wouldn?t.
The one thing that cannot be ignored in all this is that Bruce Lee was not a professional fighter. Ask yourself, did he have a good chin? Did he have a good engine in a fight? Did he cut easy? Did he fade when the going got tough? We don?t know any of that because outside of third party accounts and sparring exhibitions (see Longbeach Internationals) there is no evidence one way or the other.
Personally, I feel that Benny Urquidez, a legendary multi-weight world champion in full contact martial arts, would have been too much for Lee. Why? Because he was a brilliant and seasoned professional who took hits for a living. There is no substitute for absorbing punishment and firing back and if you?re not accustomed to that ? you will lose. And how about Lee against modern UFC stars? The same problems exist.
Lee was all about taking care of business on the street ? in seconds. He was persistently challenged by stuntmen on the set of ?Enter the Dragon? and let?s just say he emerged undefeated amidst a shower of blood and teeth. There just happens to be a difference between those types of encounters and a showdown against a combat athlete.
If we?re talking about potential then there is no doubt that Lee could have been a magnificent professional fighter. With his innovative approach to the martial arts, his uncanny ability to master whatever he was shown in minutes and those incredible physical tools; he may have transcended boxing, or UFC, just as he did action cinema. As a martial artist, Lee is the closest thing to perfection that this reporter has ever seen and I doubt that changes in my lifetime.
The influence Ali had on him is undeniable. Had Lee lived, it is almost certain that the pair would have crossed paths but his untimely demise meant that their acquaintanceship, much like this fan-fueled superfight, would be confined to fantasy. What would Ali have made of Lee? Providing the egos didn?t clash, this would have been a match made in heaven. Both struggled through adversity and racism, both transcended cultural and nationalistic boundaries, both were wonderfully charismatic and both were astonishingly gifted in their respective fields.
If they?ve met up in heaven, perhaps the ?Battle of Icons? has already taken place.
