Rob Lowe recalled ‘competitive’ boxing experience with Tom Cruise

Rob Lowe shares vintage Vegas story of boxing with Tom Cruise

Rob Lowe shared a memorable story about his younger days, including a spontaneous boxing match with Tom Cruise, during his visit to the Rich Eisen Show on July 15.

When asked by the radio host, 55, to share a recollection of working with Cruise, 62, Lowe, 60, recounted their impromptu boxing session.

“He’s so competitive that we used to box in the hallway of the hotel we were staying at during Outsiders,” he said. “So much testosterone. We’re 18-year-old guys stuck on location. So we would have headgear, and we’d have mouthpieces in, but we would legitimately spar.”

Although Cruise was “jacked” and looked like a “beast,” Lowe remembered that at the time he had “pipe cleaner arms.” Lowe was able to acquire a “real clean” photo somehow.

“I rang his bell, and the next I knew, I woke up — I was coming to, on the floor,” Lowe told Eisen. “And he, like, completely knocked me out.”

“His eyes just went black, but that’s the stuff we did,” Lowe added. “That’s what guys do. Like Fight Club.”

When Lowe joined Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard in April 2020, she revealed yet another Cruise recollection.

“All of the L.A. people survived the L.A. auditions, and then the hand-picked people had to go to New York to face the New York version,” he said of auditions for The Outsiders. “So it was me and Tom Cruise and Emilio [Estevez] and C. Thomas Howell.”

“[It was the] first time I ever stayed at The Plaza Hotel, and we check-in and Tom finds out that we’re sharing a room and just goes ballistic,” Lowe said while laughing.