Both 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 23 years old and Rhee was 32. Both were impressed with each other's martial arts skills and quickly became close friends.
"Bruce Lee had great respect for Jhoon Rhee's martial arts and the way he ran his school," said Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce Lee's wife. "They shared a goal of introducing real martial arts to the public, not just the kicks and punches, but the underlying discipline and philosophy."
Bruce Lee was close friends with Jhoon Rhee.
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.
Screenrant writes: “ According to Jhoon Rhee, Bruce Lee developed an impressive punching technique, notable for its speed. Bruce Lee taught Rhee the punch. Rhee then incorporated it into his own style and named it the “AccuPunch.”
Bruce Lee had no idea that Muhammad Ali would later learn the technique. Screenrant reported: “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 world heavyweight title in 1976. Ali threw the punch 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”
According to Screenrant , when Jhoon Rhee first introduced the aforementioned punch, Ali was unable to block it.
“ The idea behind this punch is to strike at such a fast pace that your opponent has no chance to react. Rhee said that for the Bruce Lee-inspired punch to be effective, the punch must be thrown “with the mind and body as one.” According to Ali, the punch is instantaneous and without any warning signs, “it works exactly when you decide to strike and there is absolutely no delay,” Screenrant wrote.
Muhammad Ali learns the "AccuPunch" punching technique from Jhoon Rhee
“ 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 Lee’s movements clearly. His ability to move so quickly (and at the right time) is what allows Lee to deliver strikes like the 1-inch punch with explosive power ,” Screenrant continued.
Meanwhile, Mixedmartialarts elaborated on how Ali learned the “AccuPunch” from Jhoon Rhee. “Rhee met Ali in 1975, before his epic fight with Joe Frazier known as the “Thrilla in Manila.” Rhee taught Ali a special punch called the AccuPunch that he learned from Bruce Lee ,” Mixedmartialarts wrote.
Muhammad Ali knocks out Richard Dunn
According to Mixedmartialarts , the idea behind the above strike is based on the human reaction time to what the eyes see, which is about 0.25 seconds.
“ The AccuPunch punch must be executed 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 this punch. Ali used it in the 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 ,” Mixedmartialarts analyzed.
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.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/muhammad-ali-tung-chien-thang-bang-tuyet-ky-dam-nhanh-cua-ly-tieu-long-ar902440.html
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