Before you start to question things you weren't alive to see, view the two following documentaries:
The Greatest Martial Artist: Bruce Lee;
Bruce Lee: A Warriors Journey
No one who knew Bruce Lee personally, trained with him, or challenged him, questioned if he was the best. If the people who knew him best had no doubt in his ability who are you to question it?
promoting Bruce Lee as the world greatest fighter is merely speculation and personal opinions. I for one doubt he was the greatest ever fighter simply because there has never been a greatest ever fighter. Era's change and people change. Styles evolve but not always for the better so who is to say what he learned and taught was not something someone obscure was teaching hundreds or thousands of years ago but just never recieved the recognition. Its just Bruce Lee had a platform and media circus following him that allowed him to promote what he does.
The fact that you seem to doubt Bruce Lee's credentials certainly is not the respectful attitude that one should hold because at the end of the day he was a magnificent martial artist, a father to modern thinking of martial arts, a philosopher and someone who done more for martial arts than probably anyone in existence.. Yes Bruce Lee fought real fights but these were not modern day tournaments like you see today or some MMA cage match so there are no records of his fighting, but there are many first and second hand stories of his fighting and this should be enough to say that he amazed people, he was a magnificent fighter not just a movie actor with some martial arts skills, he was a genuine master that taught and still thrived to learn right up until his death..
He also did a goodwill tour of military bases. He ended each demo with a request for sparring partners from the base. A friend of mine volunteered. My friend, now in his late 60's, is still, by far the most seriously dangerous martial artist I have ever seen. Bruce Lee not only beat him solidly, but could instantly reenact any sequence of moves, including kata, after seeing it once. He had the mind and body of a true martial artist.
I know he boxed competitively back in China...here, nobody knows for sure.
He was a true student, and a great martial artist, but it's impossible to tell just how good of a fighter he was, never having seen him fight off-screen.
Not takin anything away from him, he was decades before his time...but who knows?
YES, bruce lee fought a lot, but it was more like sparring... and never in front of camera.. only once.. you can see on youtube
best fighter ever is subjective, but we knew he was martial artis in HK before he went to USA, he was philosoper, writer, first asian actor in hollywod . and you knew he never he was the best fighter, he taught JKD but he said to his students, i didn't teach you anything but i am just help to explore your self. many peole are his fans besides many people doubt about him, but he was one of legend martial artist ever.
People always act like Bruce Lee is the best fighter of all time, but I'm not quite sold. I understand he was a remarkable martial artist but everyone either thinks he was a bad*ss because of what they've heard, or what they've seen in movies. A lot of people don't understand, movies are movies, they're acted out. Even if there were any fights he was in, they couldn't have been against well rounded fighters but anyway, are there any REAL competition fights he was in? Because I can't find any at all
