I am amazed that people still talk about this fight. Who care. I realize that the fight was important to Bruce because it helped him focus on what he needed to work on, but, it was a long time ago.
Registered User
I am amazed that people still talk about this fight. Who care. I realize that the fight was important to Bruce because it helped him focus on what he needed to work on, but, it was a long time ago.
Registered User
It's strange how people can be so involved with the history of whatever style they practice, be it Choy Lay Fut, Hung Gar, Wing Chun, etc., but when it comes to the origin of JKD and Bruce Lee, fans will say of the fight with WJM, "It was a long time ago, who cares, and it's not important." That doesn't make sense at all.
The three components of combat are 1) Speed, 2) Guts and 3) Techniques. All three components must go hand in hand. One component cannot survive without the others." (WJM - June 14, 1974)
the ass assassin
it was very clear what happened. they had a sissy slap fight, nobody got seriously hurt.Originally Posted by Siu Lum Fighter
if you have alzheimers and need reminders, i can come back and repeat this a every once in a while for you.
Last edited by bawang; 02-25-2013 at 10:12 PM.
Honorary African American
grandmaster instructor of Wombat Combat The Lost Art of Anal Destruction™®LLC .
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Publisher
Came up in today's newsfeed...
A Bruce Lee Fight Without Cameras Changed Everything
By Laurie Jo Miller Farr | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 16 hrs ago
Statue of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong. (Photo courtesy of flickr.com/photos/imuttoo.)
As we approach the 50th anniversary of Bruce Lee's untimely death at age 32, there are Hollywood plans for another movie about him. Despite his short life, he is regarded as the greatest martial artist of modern times. "Birth of the Dragon" filmmakers say the movie will not be another biopic; they intend to focus on something that happened in Bruce Lee's teaching studio at 4157 Broadway in Oakland, California, before his rise to international stardom: a fight with Wong Jack Man on an autumn evening in 1964. According to the producers, Hollywood's screenplay will tell its own version of the story by injecting fantasy. The real reasons for the fight and the outcome of it have been debated for almost 60 years, but Bruce Lee is gone and Wong Jack Man is not talking. One thing is clear: This was the most significant fight of Bruce Lee's career.
Background From Rick L. Wing
As an early Bruce Lee fan, I wanted to find out more about that 1964 event. The following was related to me over noodles and rice in March by Rick L. Wing, the martial arts master to whom Wong Jack Man entrusted his San Francisco school upon his retirement in December 2005. Sifu Rick Wing attended more of Sifu Wong's classes than anyone, accumulating nearly 33 years as his student. As Wing explained, "As a grandmaster, Sifu Wong is enormously well respected, highly skilled -- an old school-style teacher whose doors were open to all that sought his instruction. As a man, I describe him as extremely soft-spoken, kind, modest, fair, and very private."
When I asked about this match with Bruce Lee, Wing said, "Sifu Wong will not talk about it." Whatever he has had to share about the fight is contained within the e-book pages of "Showdown in Oakland: The Story Behind the Wong Jack Man - Bruce Lee Fight" by Wing.
A Bruce Lee Challenge
In 1964 at Jackson Street's Sun Sing Theatre in San Francisco's Chinatown, the movie "The Amorous Lotus Pan," starring Diana Chang, played to a packed house, as the 28-year-old Hong Kong starlet was to perform onstage. Her onstage cha-cha dance partner was a former Hong Kong amateur dancing champion named Bruce Lee. The audience was also treated to a kung fu demonstration including one of Bruce's signature moves, his powerfully focused one-inch punch, forceful enough to send an audience volunteer reeling backwards. On this occasion, Bruce's first attempt was unsuccessful. In response to the audience's reaction, he issued a challenge for anyone to come to his Oakland martial arts studio and best him. That remark set tongues wagging and launched the events that followed.
A Wong Jack Man Acceptance
Eleven gathered to watch Bruce and Wong Jack Man, a martial arts expert one year his junior, who had accepted the challenge at the prompting of others. These martial arts practitioners, plus Bruce's 19-year-old wife, Linda (Emery) Lee, were eager to witness a private demonstration of skill. Why not? These two guys were young, extremely fit, and in the mood to settle the score on a dare. Bruce was an Oakland-based martial arts instructor and a father-to-be just shy of 24. Wong Jack Man had arrived in 1963 from Hong Kong to teach Northern Shaolin Style from his studio at 880 Pacific Ave., his reputation preceding him. There were no political overtones, no gangs, no love interests, no ultimatums involved, despite later reports claiming otherwise. However, there may very well have been a great deal more bravado on display that evening than was intended or called for.
Jeet Kune Do Is Born
On the morning following the fight, Wong Jack Man reported for work at the Jackson Cafe, as usual. Bruce and his wife had gone home with their older friend and partner, Jimmy Y. Lee, whose house in Oakland was where they were living at the time. Everything had changed for Bruce. The Bruce Lee Foundation indicates that in the immediate aftermath of the fight, Bruce revised his methods and philosophy, creating the personal brand he called Jeet Kune Do, meaning "Way of the Intercepting Fist." Jimmy's son, Greglon Lee, writes that Bruce began "to think more analytically about how to improve his own fighting skills, especially his footwork, his timing, and his ability to bridge the gap with his opponent." Linda concurs, writing in her 1975 book, "The Wong Jack Man fight also caused Bruce to intensify his training methods. From that date, he began to seek out more and more sophisticated and exhaustive training methods."
Immediate Aftermath
Readers may appreciate knowing that an agreement of confidentiality between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man transpired at the conclusion of their private fight. However, one month after the fight, there was coverage in The Chinese Pacific Weekly picked up from a Hong Kong newspaper. Lee responded in his own defense three weeks later. On January 7, 1965, another report of the fight appeared, then another. Wong responded in his defense on January 28, 1965, offering a public second match with Bruce to which there was no reply. Bruce and Linda's baby boy arrived four days later. Lee was soon to be further distracted by action adventure on the small screen, then the big screen. Meantime, Wong closed the book for good. For Bruce, great fame, reputation, and success followed shortly.
A Conclusion
In the end, sadly, Bruce Lee died young. Like those of others with outstanding talent and charisma who have met an early demise, stories about his life and death are passed from one to another, taking on lives of their own. It is not unlike what happens in a child's game of Telephone, also called Chinese Whispers. As Wing told me, "You be the judge."
Gene Ching
Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
Author of Shaolin Trips
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Itinerant practitioner
The candle that burns twice as bright lasts half as long.
that pretty much sums up Bruce Lee.
In the end, Robbie Burns, the great Scottish poet has more statues of him around the world than any other individual.
This is probably due to the great egalitarian nature of the man and of Scots in general.
Kung Fu is good for you.
Registered User
Just thought I'd mention one more revelatory thing. The ornate scroll Linda describes was a letter written by Sifu Bing Chan of the Lup Mo Kwoon in San Francisco. Bing Chan, David Chin, and a man named Ronald Woo, who was a witness to Lee's open challenge at Sun Sing Theatre, wrote the letter at The Jackson Cafe at 640 Jackson Street in SF. Wong Jack Man worked there and he signed the letter after looking it over. The letter did not mention anything about Lee's right to teach non-Chinese. Bing Chan himself had white students. Other sifus in Chinatown had non-Chinese students. The teaching of non-Chinese was a non-issue. There's evidence and testimony to corroborate this. In the letter they were only inquiring if Lee was open to their suggestion of having a match.
Last edited by Siu Lum Fighter; 05-27-2013 at 03:15 AM.
The three components of combat are 1) Speed, 2) Guts and 3) Techniques. All three components must go hand in hand. One component cannot survive without the others." (WJM - June 14, 1974)
周洪龍 金山鴻勝武舘 - 鴻勝佛家正宗
that's one of my sigung's right thereSifu Bing Chan of the Lup Mo Kwoon in San Francisco
Hung Sing Boyz, we gottit on lock down
when he's around quick to ground and pound a clown
Bruh we thought you knew better
when it comes to head huntin, ain't no one can do it better
Registered User
Was it even that good? I imagined it like, one would be pretending to be held back by his friends - "hold me back", while the other stormed off in the opposite direction, shouting "You're not even worth it!".
Zhao Daoxin used to tell a cautionary story of how once, when he was walking past a bar in China, a very drunken western sailor fell out of the door, took a disliking to him and took a swing at him. Zhao - who was China's western boxing champion - knocked the defenceless buffoon out with a punch. Two years later when Zhao visited the ohter side of China, when the locals heard his name they were all like "You are the hero who defeated the West's top boxing champion in the fight of the century!"
the ass assassin
bruce lee was on steroids and couldnt even beat up a chinatown illegal immigrant waiter. LOL
Honorary African American
grandmaster instructor of Wombat Combat The Lost Art of Anal Destruction™®LLC .
Senior Business Director at TEAM ASSHAMMER consulting services ™®LLC
Bad the Fukc Ass
well when you put it like that ... lol
For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.
(. Y .)
His build (or chin neck area) didn't suggest steroids.
We'll never know much about the fight, but it did influence martial arts in a big way. I guess one way a person could gauge BL's skill is to judge the skill of his students.
Just saying.
the ass assassin
if bruce lee had legitimate legacy i would at least support him. but he married a hillbilly who only milks him for money so she doesnt have to work.
basically he trained wing chun, got beat up and said kung fu doesnt work. i cant relate to that.
Honorary African American
grandmaster instructor of Wombat Combat The Lost Art of Anal Destruction™®LLC .
Senior Business Director at TEAM ASSHAMMER consulting services ™®LLC
(. Y .)
look up "steroid jaw" images. I've always suspected Tito Ortiz of using. His jaw seems to change proportion throughout his career.
(. Y .)
he said classical martial arts as they are traditionally trained wouldn't work. Pretty much sums up the thought of anyone who's ever fought competitively.
the ass assassin
bruce lee gained 25 lb of mucles and lost them over and over. dude is cantonese and had a full beard. LOL
Honorary African American
grandmaster instructor of Wombat Combat The Lost Art of Anal Destruction™®LLC .
Senior Business Director at TEAM ASSHAMMER consulting services ™®LLC
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