Pummel Duel

What happens when both participants in a fistfight are capable of Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: a battle -- often punctuated with Flash Steps as they jockey for advantageous positioning -- in which little more is visible to observers than the two fighters separated by a storm of blurred and blurring arms. Dozens or even hundreds of blows and parries may be executed in a matter of seconds, almost all of which will be invisible to the untrained watcher.

In most cases a Pummel Duel will eventually devolve into a Single-Stroke Battle, as (in a case of The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort) the first to score a hit in through the cloud of strikes and defenses will almost inevitably take down their opponent.

Sometimes skill is not the only factor in play -- combatants with more than the usual two arms can often engage in Pummel Duels without needing superhuman levels of training.

Examples of Pummel Duel include:

Anime and Manga

A lot of Shonen Fighting Series have them, but Fist of the North Star probably made this trope, with Ken vs. Raoh's being some of the most epic variations of these ever, and Dragon Ball popularized them.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a lot of rapid punching, but tends to more often be one-sided. Kujo Jotaro versus Dio Brando however, in the famous ending to Part 3...
One Piece includes a variant of this trope in the fight between Luffy and Lucci. At one point, they exchange blows repeatedly, and Luffy uses Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs, but Lucci uses Rapid Fire Claw Pokes Of Doom.
Yoruichi vs. Soifon in Bleach, at least for the first half of the battle.
- Played for Laughs with Ichigo and his father, Isshin.
Cure Marine vs. Kumojacky in the Magical Girl Warrior series Heartcatch Pretty Cure. The completely asymmetrical duel is made even more jarring because Cure Marine, in mundane life, is The Fashionista Erika.
Kenichi vs Odin in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple via seikuken vs seikuken.
- Sakaki Vs Akira later.
In G Gundam, followers of the School of the Undefeated of the East do this as a greeting. "LOOK! THE EAST IS BURNING RED!"^{[dead link]}
In Ranma ½, once he masters the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken technique, Ranma Saotome will occasionally find himself engaging in less-serious versions with Cologne (who usually does it to either further his training, as part of a scheme to get him to commit to her great-granddaughter Shampoo, or both). Cologne frequently complicates things by using chopsticks or her staff instead of punches when so challenging Ranma.
- The Parlay du Fois Gras from the Picolet Chardin storyline in the Ranma ½ manga is a similar maneuver from the La Belle France School of Martial Arts, only instead of pummeling your opponent while keeping him from pummeling you, the goal is to stuff all your food into his mouth while keeping him from doing the same to you.

Film

Ip Man 2 has Ip versus Master Hung, as well as both of them, not together though, doing this with the Twister.
Juken Sentai Gekiranger in Training 5, Ran and Kademu engage in this trope during their final battle.

Video Games

The cult hit video game God Hand is the Trope Namer: two characters trying to use the "pummel" attack on each other results in this.
- God Hand also has the same thing with kicks while fighting Azel.
It also appears in most of the later titles made by Platinum Games.
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has one between Raiden and Senator Armstrong.
Likewise, Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage has them during most boss fights with other martial arts users.
The battle between Jack and the Final Boss in MadWorld, which is a Shout-Out to the above God Hand example. Justified as the game was created by Platinum Games, a company made of up of the remains of Clover Studios, who were responsible for—you guessed it--God Hand. It's also found in Anarchy Reigns, the pseudo-sequel to the game when two characters enter Rampage Mode and attack each other.
And seen yet again in Bayonetta, between The titlular character and her rival Jeanne. With giant fists made of hair no less. Platinum Games seems to really love this trope.
Done another time in Vanquish in Sam Gideon's Fight against the Leader of the Order Of the Russian Star. Being directed by the same guy who directed God Hand, it also counts as a Shout-Out.
- It's worth noting that Sam performs this against two mechs under the Big Bad's control simultaneously.
This happens in the Dragonball Z Budokai games whenever two characters match blows. After a short period of time, whoever has the advantage will break the duel and get a free shot at the loser.
Asura's Wrath has one in the form of Asura and his Old Master Augus. What makes this especially impressive is that the two armed Augus is able to match Asura blow for blow, when he has all six of his own arms out. Arms with Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs that can become so powerful they can destroy planet sized objects! The Way the Pummel Duel plays out is definitely a Shout-Out to the Clover Studios/ Platinum Games style of Pummel Duel's, and takes it up to eleven with Cross Counter's added in for extra oomph. Go here to find it^{[dead link]}.
- And all this is happening to the sound of the New World Symphony.
- Asura later gets one with Chakravartin. This one is especially spectacular considering the latter has more arms than Asura himself.
- Happens again in the finale of Lost Episode 2, between Mantra Asura and O ni.

Real Life

The Mixed Martial Arts bout between Don Frye and Yoshihiro Takayama.