S Poddar
During a visit to the Rich Eisen Show on July 15, Rob Lowe shared a memorable story from his younger days that involved an unexpected boxing match with Tom Cruise.
When asked by the radio host to share a recollection of working with Cruise, Lowe recounted their spontaneous boxing sessions during the filming of The Outsiders. “He’s so competitive that we used to box in the hotel hallway where we were staying. We were 18-year-old guys stuck on location with too much testosterone,” Lowe said. “We’d have headgear and mouthpieces, but we would legitimately spar.”
Lowe remembered how Cruise, looking like a “beast” with his muscular build, was a formidable opponent. Despite Lowe’s “pipe cleaner arms,” he somehow managed to land a solid hit. “I rang his bell, and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor, coming to,” Lowe recalled. “He completely knocked me out. His eyes just went black. That’s the stuff we did—like Fight Club.”
Lowe also shared another Cruise anecdote during an appearance on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert in April 2020. He described the intense audition process for The Outsiders, where the hand-picked actors from Los Angeles had to face off against their New York counterparts. “It was me, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, and C. Thomas Howell,” Lowe said.
Lowe humorously recounted their first stay at The Plaza Hotel in New York, where Cruise was less than thrilled to discover they were sharing a room. “Tom found out and just went ballistic,” Lowe laughed.
