Muhammad Ali once won with Bruce Lee's quick punches

2 sheets ScreenRant , and Mixedmartialarts revealed that Muhammad Ali indirectly learned a technique from Bruce Lee. Behind it is an interesting story between Bruce Lee and a Taekwondo master, Jhoon Rhee.

How did the “AccuPunch” technique come about?

When mentioning Bruce Lee, many people will remember the 1-inch punch that he performed at the Long Beach International Karate Championship in 1964. However, Bruce Lee had another punch that few people know about.

At the 1964 karate championship, Bruce Lee met a Taekwondo master, Jhoon Rhee. At that time, Bruce Lee was 1 years old and Rhee was 23. Both were impressed with each other's martial arts skills and quickly became close friends.

Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce Lee's wife, said: “Bruce Lee had great respect for Jhoon Rhee’s martial arts and the way he ran his school. They shared a goal of introducing real martial arts to the public, not just kicks and punches, but also the underlying discipline and philosophy.”

Bruce Lee trained with Jhoon Rhee and through this, he gained a deep understanding of Taekwondo, as well as improved his kicking techniques. However, it is worth mentioning that Bruce Lee taught Jhoon Rhee the technique that he created.

Sheet ScreenRant write: "According to Jhoon Rhee, Bruce Lee developed an impressive punching technique, notable for its speed. Bruce Lee taught Rhee this punch. Rhee later incorporated it into his own style and named it the “AccuPunch.”

Bruce Lee did not expect that later, Muhammad Ali would learn the above mentioned technique. ScreenRant said: “Two years after Bruce Lee died, Rhee showed Muhammad Ali the “AccuPunch” punching technique. Muhammad Ali used it against Joe Frazier and also used it to knock out Richard Dunn, who challenged him for the heavyweight title. world in 1976. Ali threw punches with incredible speed and later explained in an interview that the technique he used on Dunn was the AccuPunch.”

The 0,25 second faster principle of “AccuPunch”

Theo ScreenRant, when Jhoon Rhee first introduced the aforementioned punch, Ali was unable to block it.

"The idea behind this punch is to deliver it so quickly that the opponent has no chance to react. Rhee said that for the Bruce Lee-inspired punch to be effective, the punch must be delivered “with the mind and body as one.” According to Ali, the punch was instantaneous and without any warning signs, “it works exactly at the moment you decide to attack and there is absolutely no delay.”, ScreenRant Write.

"The principles behind AccuPunch – as it is now called – illustrate the importance of both speed and timing to Lee and his approach to martial arts. Part of what makes watching Lee so exciting is the incredible speed at which he moves. Sometimes it takes slow motion to see what Lee does. His ability to move so quickly (and at the right time) is what allows him to deliver strikes like the 1-inch punch with explosive power.", ScreenRant continue writing

Meanwhile, the sheet Mixedmartialarts More about Ali learning “AccuPunch” from Jhoon Rhee. “Rhee met Ali in 1975, before the boxer's epic “Thrilla in Manila” fight with Joe Frazier. Rhee taught Ali a special punch called the AccuPunch that he learned from Bruce Lee.”, sheet Mixedmartialarts Write.

Theo Mixedmartialarts, the idea of ​​the above attack is based on the human reaction time to what the eyes see, about 0,25 seconds.

"The AccuPunch must be delivered before the opponent has completed the transmission of signals from the brain to the wrist. When Rhee demonstrated the punch to Ali, Ali could not block it. At Ali's request, Rhee taught the boxer the punch. Ali used it in his fight with Frazier. Later, Ali also used the AccuPunch in a fight with British champion Richard Dunn. He used this punch to knock out Dunn.”, sheet Mixedmartialarts analysis.

Notably, the victory over Richard Dunn was Muhammad Ali's last knockout victory. Perhaps Ali did not expect that the punch he learned from a Taekwondo master originated from Bruce Lee, who spent a lot of time studying his tapes to learn boxing footwork.