Did Bruce Lee really fight Bolo?

[roughnready]

I have heard from many people that Bruce Lee and Bolo had an encounter with one another. Is this true? Who won and why did they fight? I also heard other stories such as Chuck Norris disrespecting Bruce and Bruce kicking the crap out of Chuck. What have you guys heard and who do you think won?

[DragonzRage]

yeah, yeah I know Bruce was never a pro fighter, but he was a technician ahead of his time, a much more serious martial artist, a much more experienced brawler (probably), and reportedly had amazing speed and great power for his size. Bolo on the other hand was a body builder/stuntman who also happened to be a karate practitioner. I don't think he was nearly as serious as Bruce.

But I'd bet my left nutt that either one of them would've killed Van Damme.

[Dark Knight]

Bruce and Chuck never fought. Gene Lebelle did take bruce down.

Bruce has never fought anyone with skill to prove his ability. This is an old issue.

[roughnready]

LOL Van Damme wouldn't stand a chance. This isn't Bloodsport, you know.

[Royal Dragon]

I though Bolo was some sort of Mantis guy?

As for Bruce, he was just the best AMERICA had seen at the time. I don't think he was all that great compared to what was in China at the time, or now.

If we put Bruce (At his best) up against Cung Le today, Cung would kill him for sure.

[Royal Dragon]

Stop Dissing the man, he went 3 full rounds with my 11 year old daugter before she knocked him out!!!!!:rolleyes:

[rubthebuddha]

royalD: he only made it three rounds with your daughter because you fed her a happy meal for pre-match lunch and she was feeling groggy because of it -- it took her that long to get her food to settle. :mad:

[Unmatchable]

Originally posted by Dark Knight
Gene Lebelle did take bruce down.

Bruce has never fought anyone with skill to prove his ability. This is an old issue.

Gene Labell was a world Champion Wrestler who Bruce turned to for help but he never fought Bruce Lee where did you get that from?

Gene Labell was asked by Bruce to teach him grappling teqnuiqes and he was far superior to Bruce..why would he, a World Champion, not have been......but all they did was mess about a bit and do some grappling, at which Labell was much much supperior. He said Bruce was very slippery but next to useless and couldn't apply any techniques on him. It was pointed out to him that neither could anyone else in the world at that time and the whole thing was little more than a joke.


There was never any serious conflict between them.
I read an interview of his this morning:(http://www.genelebell.com/stories.asp#1brucelee) and he talked about How Strong bruce was (means a whole lot coming from lebell). He said that bruce kicked him so hard once that if his foot was a lil bigger he would have knocked him to China And he explained how he first met Bruce which was hilarious in itself. I'lllink you. brb

Joe Lewis said this: I have no way of telling how Bruce would have faired in kick boxing competoition all I can say I have never stood in front of a faster human being in my life.

This is something that is backed up to the hilt by the amazing Patrick Strong who said he backs that up to the hilt as he also trained with Bruce and he was the fastst man he ever sparred with and very seldom if ever missed when he attacked or countered you. It is my opinion if anything he was underated and we don't know how lucky we are to have seen him..........But hey Dark Knight what do I know your the expert

[Royal Dragon]

Yeah, it was the Happy meal all right, that and the Ice ream for dessert.:D

Also, I think she was trying to help him a bit, and in round 2 clearly told him she was "prolonging the fight because she could see how badly he needed the practice!!!":D

[Dark Knight]

Gene Labell was asked by Bruce to teach him grappling teqnuiqes and he was far superior to Bruce..why would he, a World Champion, not have been......but all they did was mess about a bit and do some grappling

This is true and I didnt expand on it. Gene and Bruce did not fight in the sense of a challenge or an all out fight, and I should have posted more.

I just get tired of people getting online wanting to post about how Bruce fought everyone and could beat everyone. He Worked out with Gene and He worked out with Chuck and many others.

Top fighters never speak poorly of others, you have never heard Gene speak poorly of people he fought, or Chuck or many other top fighters. When comments are made about other martial artist they will always speak highly of them.

Again my post was just in response to somone who heard another legendary story.

[Dark Knight]

But hey Dark Knight what do I know your the expert

No prob, any time I can help;)

[BAI HE]

Bruce Lee never spoke a word about any of his training partners, that I can recall.

A security guard on the "Game of Death" who supposedly witnessed Bruce and Chck sparring, said " The champion was usually left red-faced by the competition".
You can diss Chuck and his lisp,but his record stands for itself.

He could be both winded or embarressed. This leaves much to interpet.

Sammo Hung and Bruce had a go. When they had first met they decided to see who had what in terms of Gong-Fu.
Sammo said Bruce kicked him in the face before he even
knew what hit him. This was in a recent mag (Inside Kung Fu? SORRY GENE).

I don't know enough about Sammo to Judge him as quality competition and I refrain from judging anyone persuing their personal truth.

But I think Bruce was a pretty **** good Martial Artist.
He constantly persued his truth, pushed his boundaries and improved his art. He excepted his limitations and devised his strategems accordingly and by most accounts effectively.
Remember, most accounts of Bruce and his life were written by people who had alot to gain by furthering the mystique and putting words in a dead man's mouth.

I like the book "Fighting Spirit", it may reak of hero worship, but nonetheless entertaining and engaging. Unlike many other works about Bruce Lee it was at least written by a martial artist.

My final thought on this is that many other martial artists wards Bruce. If you are defined by the company you keep then surely he was special. He opened some doors for all of us by putting
Gong-Fu on the map.

[Dark Knight]

But I think Bruce was a pretty **** good Martial Artist.

No one ever said he wasnt. He def had talent.

There are tons of people out there with talent and skill, and being the best fighter does not make you the best teacher, or best qualified to create a system. Bruce was a top teacher, he had an open mind to find what works best for him (A lesson many martial artist never learn)

But like you said "most accounts of Bruce and his life were written by people who had alot to gain by furthering the mystique and putting words in a dead man's mouth. " Bruce didnt fight anyone of high skill to show fighting greatness. This is not to say he couldnt fight, Im sure he could, just you always hear people say his abilities were better than anyone else.

[BAI HE]

Amen to that.

It seems like Bruce kicked off the Gong-Fu craze in the states, but he never really had to walk his talk with another high level CMA.
They talk about that fight with Wong Jak Man but he isn't exactly Wang Shu Jin now is he.

He opened some doors and overall put a spotlight on the CMA's,
We owe him for that always. I'm now 32 and only found the CMA'S 2 years ago. Unlike the 70's and early 80's at least I can find real CMA teacher's who maybe saw that Bruce let the cat out of the hat and that they could share these treasures with the gwai lo. There is a lot of high level CMA instruction out there available to the general public which prior to Bruce I don't think would be there. He opened a cultural pathway as an entertainer that will and has benefitted so many.

Everybody starts with Bruce. I did. I never studied JKD. But I found some CMA because of my exploring Bruce's life.
Once you begin to really research the MartiAL hISTORIES AND TRADITIONS, because of Bruce, do you realize he was such a minor figure but in some ways a mojor figure.

But that is just him. Bruce is all contradiction and paradox.

[Dark Knight]

at least I can find real CMA teacher's who maybe saw that Bruce let the cat out of the hat and that they could share these treasures with the gwai lo.

Its good that us white devils are able to find good instruction;)

[diego]

If we put Bruce (At his best) up against Cung Le today, Cung would kill him for sure.""quote



these types of comments i find funny, i mean who knows how good he really was, they say he trained at least 8 hours a day, but he also built a director and actor carrear, his wife said he would sleep like 4 hours a day, So in my eye for many ma's thier is no comparison, to compare cungle to bruce cung would not only have to be into training tobe his status of sanshou champ, but also compared to bruces directoral/acting studies cung would have to be a doctor to, bruce didnt influence people because he looked good his aura sweated REAL GUNGFU hardwork and skill...he's working with the best, gene lebell yip man wong shun leung, mark gin foon, then he worked it out with the likes of dan inosanto and also had a hollywood carrear...not many can compare, :cool:

[BAI HE]

Amen
Now any round eye can learn Gong-Fu from
purchasing Rush Hour I & II of of EbAY (USED).
Then they can develop, market and teach their own style.
"Rush Hour Chuan".

[Ryu]

Okay guys I didn't want to have to do this!! We'll settle it right here and now.


*ring ring ring*

*ring ring...*
Bruce: Hello?

Ryu: Now Bruce I know I said I wouldn't bother......

Bruce: Damm man, not you again!

Ryu: Wait wait! :D Really it will only take ONE second. Just ONE question come on.

Bruce: (sighs) What do you want to know?

Ryu: When you kicked the crap out of Chuck, did you...

Bruce: What??

Ryu: .... when you fought Chuck. What kick did you use?

Bruce: What the hell are you talking about? I never fought him for real. We trained together. He's a strong son of a gun!

Ryu: :confused: I....oh. Well who won?

Bruce: We weren't out to do each other in, man. We trained hard, I enjoyed it and so did he. He was the North American full contact champion at the time, so I think I was doing something right. But then again so was he.

Ryu: Okay what about Gene??? Gene Lebelle, did you kick his butt?? Yeah!!

Bruce: ...... You don't date much do you?

Ryu: :confused: I ...... :(

Bruce: We never fought either. He picked me up once on a set! He's a funny guy. I learned a lot of judo from him. I love to train with good fighters you know? Makes my body strong.

Ryu: So..... no kicking butt?

Bruce: Just hard training.

Ryu: Well that's no fun. :(

Bruce: Training with the world's top fighters at the time gives you a lot of tools. You should try it some time. Well gotta go.
*click*

There you have it! :D
Bruce's last comment hurt my feelings so I will retire for the night.
:mad:

Ryu

[Chang Style Novice]

Who would win: Stephen Chiau or Buster Keaton?

[roughnready]

i think that bolo might be a little good because i saw him in a movie called shoot fighter or something like that and he was doing some tai chi and looked pretty good doing it.

[Nichiren]

It would have been a treat seeing Bruce Lee in action against some of the chinese masters at that time. I mean if he crosstrained with Gene he would have been a tuff S-O-B on the ground as well!!!! I think he would have done very well.

I really like hes attitude. Gene probably had some fun in the beginning of their sparring but Bruce showed up!!!

/Cheers

[Dark Knight]

I mean if he crosstrained with Gene he would have been a tuff S-O-B on the ground as well!!!! I think he would have done very well.

thats a great point. If Bruce were 25 - 30 today and training with gene as a fighter, he would be a top competitor. He had drive and physical ability to be strong... He would have excelled as a grappler. And what would JKD be like today?

[LEGEND]

Bruce and Chuck Norris worked out. Nothing too special...in one of Chuck Norris books...Chuck said he was tossing out spinning and hook kicks and it took a few mins. for Bruce to adapt since he hadn't spar against a korean stylist before. But Bruce eventually adapted.

Bruce and Gene trained together like 13 sessions...so he did investigate wrestling/judo...he also trained with WALLY JAY in standup jujitsu and Hayward Nakishi( silver medalist ) in Judo. So he was aware of grappling but from what I heard he didn't really like it! It really wasn't his thing. He had KO power so he develop his game around standup fighting and interception ability.

Cung Le is quite an animal in his game of San Shou. Plus he outwieghs Bruce by 40lbs! Cung Le is truly a terror...is there a trend among soft spoken men how they are the ultimate fighters??? Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Cung Le, Andy Hug...all were soft spoken men.

[LEGEND]

BOLO...oh I forgot...they only work out on the set of enter the dragon. I think Bruce was just doing some wierd demos...there's a couple photos of Bruce doing kicks with Bolo. In one interview Bolo...says Bruce was very very fast. But it was choreograph stuff.

[DragonzRage]

A little more than a year ago i was talking to Sifu Larry Hartsell after a training session and I asked him about the old days training with Bruce and also about how Bruce measured up when sparring with other martial artists and fighters. First of all, he said that all the stories of Bruce training like a fanatic are true...this guy LIVED BY HIS TRAINING! And this is why he was good. When you eat, sleep, and breath realistic/practical training the way Bruce did, you develop some serious skill. He said that Bruce and Chuck Norris were friends and trained together and did spar on occasion, but he doesn't know if they ever really went at it hard to see who came up on top. My guess would be that they would not do that. He did say that Bruce sparred with a lot of people and that the only one who ever clearly outclassed him in sparring (to his knowledge) was Gene LeBell. In Sifu Hartsell's own words, "Yeah, Gene threw him around pretty good." I believe this, but I don't think that it discounts bruce's skill. Consider this: LeBell was a world class crosstrained grappler and also was twice bruce's size! At the advent of modern NHB/MMA, even world class strikers (w/ no substantial grappling knowledge) were easily taken down and manhandled by skilled grapplers their own size AND smaller than them! This does not indicate that they had poor technique, they were still great strikers. It only demonstrates that they lacked training in particular areas. Prior to working with Gene LeBell the only grappling knowledge Bruce had was from wing chun chi sao and a bit of crosstraining. Being outmatched by a skilled grappler much bigger than him does not mean that Bruce was all hype.

To my observation, there are two foolish camps of thought regarding Bruce. The first camp is the people who think he was the ultimate bada$$ messiah of MA skill and that he was invincible. Obviously, this idea is laughable and makes no sense at all. The other camp is the people who think that just because he made his name through film and had no professional record that he was a faker, a pansy when it came to real fighting, and only got attention because he was the first MA'ist that us "stupid americans" had seen. This is also an assumption with completely no logical basis. Guys, by Bruce's time everyone in America knew all about karate and judo. There were already skeptical boxers who felt that karate was useless, and wrestlers who thought that, other than their ability to choke people, judokas were throwing dummies. And Bruce was NOT the first person to show the "gwai lo" the amazing powers of kung fu :D Guys like Ark Yuey Wong and others were already teaching kung fu publicly (and already a lot of karate fighters and judo guys were commenting that kung fu seemed all flashiness but no real power or substance). My point is that martial arts was nothing new or terribly amazing to people of the time. For Bruce to have generated as much attention and following in the MA community as he did, he could not have been a phony. He had to have had special skill. It wasn't just because he was on the Green Hornet. A lot of MA'ists came into contact with Bruce and were amazed by what he had to offer. They, in turn, mentioned Bruce to bigwigs like Ed Parker. Ed Parker then met Bruce and was equally impressed, and gave him the chance to demonstrate at some karate shows. It was only after this that Bruce was cast for the Green Hornet.

So many reputable MA'ists with first hand experience have spoken highly of Bruce. Certainly, no one wants to kick sand on a dead man's grave. And yes, people of high caliber tend to be respectful when speaking of others. But being respectful and not kicking sand on a man's grave does not require you to give such high praise as Bruce has received. Bruce's students may have possibly been tempted to capitalize off of his name and tell fairy tales about him. But guys like Gene LeBell and Joe Lewis had already made their mark and had a ton of respect. They had nothing to gain by exaggerating about Bruce. Nevertheless, Gene LeBell (the man who apparently threw Bruce around) also praised Bruce's skill greatly and has even called him "the best MA'ist of his time". Joe Lewis has always been very candid about Bruce and has probably criticized Bruce as much as he has praised him. For example, he has always been the first to point out that Bruce was not a professional fighter, and he has also said that although Bruce was heavily influenced by boxing, he never really developed very good boxing skill and technique. On the other hand, he credits Bruce for teaching him a lot of the techniques he used to win the karate championships and has also stated that Bruce was "the fastest man who ever stood in front of me".

The points I am trying to convey are the following: Bruce was not the MA god ignorant people have made him out to be, and there is absolutely no justification for people to assume he was the best fighter out there. By the same token, just because you are tired of the hype that idiots have given him, or because you disagree with certain things he did or said, or because you feel he insulted the infallible almighty tradition of Chinese martial arts, does not give you a basis to discount him as a great martial artist who at least knew to some extent what he was talking about when it came to fighting. But make of all this what you will.

BTW Ryu, you have by far the best Bruce Lee phone interviews ever conducted :D and i completely agree with the point you've been trying to make.

[Le nOObi]

i dont really buy the story of beating the crap out of wong jack man
http://www.sageartsunlimited.com/articles/MA_Jul1980_Bruce_ToughestFight.html