Yeah, I was joking a little there, just to make a point that to compare Lee to Charles Bronson or to Sylvestre Stallone or even to the manliest actor of all, John Wayne, unfairly marginalizes him.
This specifically refers to Boxing by Edwin L. Haislet, a thin but pithy volume published in 1940 by A.S. Barnes and Company, as part of The Barnes Sports Library series of manuals in hardcover. Extensively illustrated with line drawings, it lends itself very well to reproduction. (In fact, I'm rather amazed that it hasn't been posted on-line yet.) Haislet's collegue and rival, legendary University of Wisconsin boxing coach John J. Walsh, published Boxing Simplified in 1951, also issued in hardback, by Prentice Hall. Very similar in content to Haislet's guide, except for the use of photographed boxers in place of line drawings. Lee probably used Walsh's material along with Haislet's. Smack dab between the Haislet and Walsh classics was Mass Boxing Simplified, for the Beginner, the Amateur, the Professional and the Coach issued by Simpson Publications in 1945, and written by Max Marek, then the U.S. Coast Guard's chief boxing instructor. Marek is better known to you all as the Notre Dame star halfback who in 1933 became the last of the four amateur conquerors of Joe Louis. Considering how voraciously Lee collected and read boxing literature, it's probably a safe bet that he obtained a copy of Marek's guide as well. Everybody already knows that Bruce also leaned heavily on Dempsey's Championship Fighting.
This is an interesting story... "Bolo (Yeung, of Bloodsport fame) tells of another time he went to see Bruce at Golden Harvest studios and was told he was on a dubbing stage screening a movie. Yeung went to the stage and found that Bruce was screening a Cassius Clay documentary. Ali was world heavyweight champion at the time and Bruce saw him as the greatest fighter of them all. The documentary showed Ali in several of his fights, but Bruce wasn't looking directly at the screen. He had set up a wide, full length mirror to reflect Ali's image from the screen and Bruce was looking into the mirror, making moves along with Ali. Now Bruce's right hand was Ali's right hand, Ali's foot was Bruce's as well. He was then able to fight Ali's fight as if in Ali's shoes. But why? "Everybody says I must fight Ali someday" Bruce had said. "I'm studying every move he makes. I'm getting to know how he thinks. How he will move in a situation. You never know." Still, he once told me, referring to Muhammad Ali, that he would never win against Ali and he held up his hand to show me it's size. "Look at that hand, it's a little Chinese hand. He'd kill me."
Please allow me to break into song Dr. Jeckyll works late at the laboratory Where things are not as they seem Dr. Jeckyll wishes nothing more desperately Than to fulfill all of his dreams Letting loose with a scream in the dead of night As he's breaking new ground Trying his best to unlock all the secrets But he's not sure what he's found Dr. Jeckyll is his own little guinea pig 'Cos they all think he's mad Sets his sights on the search of a lifetime And he's never, never sad Whoa oh, it's off to work he goes In the name of science and all its wonders.... This is the story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde They are a person who feels good to be alive This is the story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde Believes the underdog will eventually survive Not long now till the ultimate experiment He's breaking all the rules He wants to cure all matter of imbalance In this world of fools He locks the door and he looks around nervously He knows there's no one there He drinks it down and waits for some reaction To all his work and care Hey, hey he fumbles for what to say He loves the wo except for all the people.... This is the story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde They are a person who feels good to be alive This is the story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde Believes the underdog will eventually survive Whoa oh, it's out at night he goes He slips easily into conversation Hey hey, he's cool in every way Sometimes he loves to sing that old black magic This is the story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde They are a person who feels good to be alive This is the story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde Believes the underdog will eventually survive This is the story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde They are a person who feels good to be alive This is the story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde Believes the underdog will eventually survive
Yup but what would chuck norris know? he is not a boxer so his opinion means shiit on here. I would have bet big money on bruce lee beating charles bronson in a fight. I dont know how good a boxer he would have been but for his weight his power was unreal, his speed was very very quick and his movement was very good. The makings of a good boxer just depends on how well he takes to being tagged. I am in no doubt in what he has acheived (pioneer in many aspects in martial arts and training) that if he concentrated on being a boxer he would have done as well as his skills would let him. To call him simply an actor is like calling ali a mildly amusing talker.
After he borke his back,and had lots of time to study ( a year), he was very impressed with Jack Dmepsey's Instruction book. He incorperated any thing that worked, and had over come one school only thought. It was said some where in Hong Kong as a kid he fist fought some British kids and boxing had impressed him even then. 135 pounds was his walk around in condition weight, and he was always in shape. But if he was boxing it could be he'd not been a Lightweight (135)...they had no Jr. Lightiweight (130) then, so he might have had to fight at feather (128). He might not have been able to make Feather. But there was no law to say someone could not come in, in the middle of Lightweight at say 131 pounds. he'd been a solid contender at least...back then it was still one or two champions at most. Out of film, Lee fought off the southern city style, keep one foot on the ground, no jump in the air on account he didn't have to knock someone from a horse like the northern styles. He did a lot of flamboyant stuff on film, that he would not have used in real life. Num-chucks were for flamboyance, not for reality... He was the first major Kung Fu fighter to incorperate boxing foot work into his style and a hook and a cross and upper cuts are very good weapons in fights.
The one inch punch like the three inch punch is foot work...you are not standing still when it is done.....in I can't do it. but I can tell you a 1 or 3 inch punch is intersting. Some 135 pound woman slitehered into me with her beautiful foot work and showed it to me. I'm glad she didn't hit me hard, or I'd at least had bad bursed ribs. It backed me up a full step, done slow and easy, with me expecting it. Me a flabby 205 pounds. A 135 pound woman is not capable of being in the shape of a 135 pound man, due to natural body shape and body fat.
But were Num-chucks more in the used of disable a sword or a spear?? Kinda of like the Roman war net?? In this regards. They are still a deadly weapon.
Num-chucks were never a serious weapon, until Bruce Lee needed some flamboiance in a movie. No num-chucks were made to be used as a farm tool, and did that job good, if attacked by a single samuri, you might if you was great win. Bruce Lee with Num-chucks vs Sword might win 3 of 5.. could well lose 4 out of 5 too....depending on the level of the swordsman...could also lose 5 of 5. A illegal Sai, actually two might give you a chance vs a sword. That was what a Sai was made for. Sai, is a round spike wtih a wide blade catching U shaped guard with a knife style handle., something you could slip up your sleeves. Vs a long spear no chance. A good man with a good long spear often beat a good man with a sword. Not worth looking up the names, but the best swordsman of his time in armor lost to the best spear man of his time in armor, in a battle. The best man of his time with a sword, 59-0 sword vs sword and one of them was wooden sword vs Jap sword, one of the best of all times, the guy who wrote the five rings, lost to a bo. So he ended up 59-1. And a Bo can take on Num-chucks easy enough. IMO.
If Bruce Lee was a boxer he would've ended up fighting someone like Roberto Duran...dunno how that outcome would've been.
We used to argue about it when we kids. "who would win, SRL or Bruce"? Like I say though, we we're only kids!
