Shaquille O’Neal spent much of his career as the center for the LA Lakers and captured multiple NBA titles. Along with Kobe Bryant the duo were unstoppable.
But even outside the basketball court, O’Neal is an imposing figure at 7 ft 1 in (216 cm). The 50 year old boasts of impressive athleticism.
What many might not know is that O’Neal dabbles in martial arts. As far back as the 1990 there was a video game titled Shaq Fu in which Shaq beats up villains in kung fu – despite having never actually trained Kung Fu.
O’Neal trained Brazilian jiu jitsu sporadically.
Thanks to his size, O’Neal is able to overcome not being regular at training. O’Neal trained at Johnathan Burke’s Gracie gym.
He’s also done a little bit of boxing including having an exhibition boxing match against Oscar De La Hoya. Shaq went on to lose by decision and couldn’t match De La Hoya’s intensity. He spent time training at Freddie Roach’s gym.
Recently O’Neal used his martial arts to play wrestle another GOAT of the sport – Charles Barkley. Barkley is 59 year old but still has an imposing figure thanks to his height of 6 ft 4+3⁄4 in (1.95 m).
Before Game 5 of the series at Chase Center, Shaquille O’Neal helped the crowd boo at his “Inside the NBA” co-host, who has been subjected to “Chuck you suck” chants throughout the series.
The "Chuck you suck" chants are back and @SHAQ is loving it 😅 pic.twitter.com/HKT1nGzirk
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 27, 2022
Barkley called the city “hell” and openly rooted against the Warriors throughout the West finals.