Serpico vs. Tootsie? Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman were once offered a live boxing match

Last Updated on October 24, 2024

Hoo-ah! Actually, how about who are two acting legends you’d want to see in a boxing match? If you went with Robert Mitchum and Charles Bronson, we’d all be in for one hell of a slobberknocker. But when we think of Al Pacino squaring off against Dustin Hoffman, we might have a real demonstration of The Method on our hands — and to think it was actually proposed.

Having come up around the same time, Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman quickly marked themselves as some of the most unique, bold talents on the screen. With that, people couldn’t help but lump them in the same class and debate over who had the upper hand — or the best right hook. As Pacino recalls in his new book Sonny Boy (which is crammed with amazing stories), “There must have been something in the air, because the comparisons were flying left and right. It got to the point where the great theater producer and impresario, Alexander H. Cohen, a guy I liked very much, suggested that Dustin and I get together at Madison Square Garden and fight each other in a boxing match, and he really meant it.” Oh come on, that’s a million times better than Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul!

Pacino would end up brushing off the potential bout with Hoffman, fully aware he wouldn’t stand a chance. “I said to Cohen, ‘Let me just tell you straight out: Dustin will beat me. He works out. He’ll knock me out.’ I thought Alexander would be better off asking Meryl Streep to fight me instead. But then I got a little worried. Sh*t, what if she wins? Luckily, the fight never got off the ground.” Now imagine Pacino being told he had to get into the ring with the Raging Bull himself, Robert De Niro…

Despite their decades-spanning careers and having numerous parallels, Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman only ever had one shared credit: 1990’s Dick Tracy, with Pacino giving an Oscar-nominated turn as Big Boy Caprice and Hoffman in the limited role of nervous, sweaty henchman Mumbles.

Imagine it’s the 1970s and make a call to your shady bookie. Who do you have in the boxing match between Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman?