Top Ten Best Fighting Lions of All Time
Here is a list lions that have been recorded being some of the best fighting lions of their era. Going by the order you may vote out of these ten lions, which lion had done the most impressive feat.
In 1936, this lion named Boss Tweeds, owned by the famous lion tamer Clyde Beatty, was renowned as one of the greatest fighting lions ever witnessed. In the 1936 Rochester massacre, this lion fought and killed three Bengal tigers.
This lion named Menelik, owned by Frank C. Bostock, in Sheffield 1911, broke command during a performance and ran through a tunnel where it met a North American grizzly bear, sometimes called a Kodiak bear. This bear, named President, reared up to fight the lion. Menelik fought and killed the bear. The trainers said Menelik tugged so forcibly on the bear's head he nearly pulled President's head completely off.
Another lion owned by Clyde Beatty, one of the greatest fighters of his time, had a grudge match with Beatty's oldest and most powerful lion, Nero. After defeating Nero and becoming the new arena boss, Sultan was nearly unstoppable. Beatty used Sultan in his film in 1933 called The Big Cage. However, the lion we see on screen is not Sultan. Two fights had to be edited out because the lions killed the tigers so quickly there wasn't enough footage.
In the first fight, Caesar the lion killed Bobby, and Sultan killed a freshly caught Bengal named Tommy from Bengal. The third fight we see on film, this tiger was killed by being bitten in the kidney. Sultan went on to defeat many other tigers in his career, as mentioned in Clyde Beatty's book Facing the Big Cats.
This lion, owned by animal circus owner Jack Bonavita, the famous one-armed lion tamer, was known as one of the greatest fighters of over a hundred animals in the Bostock collection. After tearing all his trainers to pieces, one day at Coney Island in 1908, he fought and killed a 900-pound Russian bear.
King was a lion owned by animal trainer Prince Ki-gor. In 1949 at New Bedford, Massachusetts, at a performance in the Biller Brothers Circus, King fought and killed one of the largest tigers ever recorded, weighing 1,000 pounds.
Another lion owned by the Bostocks in a different establishment in Boston, in 1902, the lioness fell sick and was being exercised in the ring to help her recover. A black bear named Bruno rushed her and fought her for several minutes, until the fight ended with Queenie landing a paw blow on Bruno's head, crushing his skull.
A lion owned by animal trainer Lucia Zora, originally published in 1924, debuted in The Daily News and fell ill. A Bengal tiger named Dan sensed this lion was weak and sick and tormented him at every turn. Lucia Zora fed the lion a live chicken, and Edward's powers returned in attitude. The Bengal ambushed the lion once more, and then his claws were tangled in Edward's mane. King Edward then fought back and killed the tiger.
A lion at the famous Wombwell's Menagerie was being fed next to a very large bear. This bear crossed over and tried to steal the lion's meal. Nero then, with one blow, broke the bear's back like a twig.
Prince, another lion owned by Clyde Beatty, had killed five tigers during his tenure as part of the Clyde Beatty circus. Three tigresses, Sheba, Rosie, and Sleika, were reported killed in early 1951 in Detroit. Later, he then killed two male tigers.
This lion, Rover, another owned by the Bostock menagerie in 1911, fought and killed his cage mate, a male tiger named Mentor. After the fight was over, they found Mentor with his neck torn out while Rover stood with triumphant roars proclaiming his victory.