But as it’s already known to many, pro athletes and professional martial artists are often trained to withstand such punishment and also deliver harder hits than many others since they’re taught how to use their entire body when engaging in their profession, meaning that the average boxer will typically hit harder than someone that’s merely strong and likes to fight.
Anyone that has watched the movie managed to see that Tyson landed a few vicious blows that many people wouldn’t be getting up from. The fight scene the two engage in during the movie is vicious to begin with, and to be fair, had it happened in real life it’s very likely that Donnie would be walking away with several injuries that might not heal for a while. That might be an exaggeration, but it’s very likely that if Tyson did connect with Donnie the result would be disastrous. To hear a respected martial artist and actor admit that another individual could have likely killed them with a single hit. Unfortunately, it does sound as though one of Tyson’s hooks caught Donnie, or might have come close, and made him well aware of the power the Tyson still possesses. The goal of course is to make everything look as real as possible, but in order to do this there are times when the actors have to cut everything down to the split second in order to make the fight appear authentic.
But if that was the case this time around it’s hard to tell since Donnie actually told how dangerous it felt to be shooting his scenes with Tyson since the former boxer was apparently swinging for the fences. It’s easy to think that a pro athlete would know how to check their movements when it’s required, and despite the fact that Tyson could likely knock Yen down if he connected squarely, it’s also understood that he knows how to go at half-speed when it’s necessary. During Ip Man 3, Donnie Yen took on the role of the famous Wing Chun instructor once again, and again he was impressive despite the fact that the story of Ip Man’s life is definitely retconned, but apart from taking on multiple opponents and a Muy Thai fighter, he also took on a crime boss who was played by none other than “Iron” Mike Tyson. But when throwing two people that know what they’re doing in the movie and expecting things to go smoothly, there’s still an element of risk that has to be understood and respected. Those that somehow can’t be bothered to get things right are usually the most obvious since they look horrible on screen and are typically throwing punches and kicks that look insanely weak, ineffective, and even foolish. But with actors it might be irritating if a person gets tagged once or twice, since many times actors will go through the fight scenes numerous times in practice to get it right. Given that fight scenes are choreographed in the movies it’s hard to think that there might be that much danger.