originally posted by
Foiling Fist
"This is in contrast to Wong and William Chen's account of the fight as they state the fight lasted an unusually long 20–25 minutes. Allegedly, Wong was unsatisfied with Lee's account of the match and published his own version in the Chinese Pacific Weekly, a Chinese language newspaper in San Francisco.
The article, which was featured on the front page, included a detailed description of the fight from Wong's perspective and concluded with an invitation to Bruce Lee for a public match if Lee found his version to be unacceptable. Lee never made a public response to the article."
I heard from my Si Heng that after the article was published, Bruce and a friend of his (I think he was a Mantis kung fu guy or something) paid Wong Sifu a visit at the Jackson Street Cafe where he worked. I don't know what happened but Bruce was supposedly really ****ed about the article. I think he was trying to make it seem like he wasn't at fault for anything because he never mentioned Wong Sifu's name in the interview so, technically, he never reneged on their agreement to not discuss the match. I guess some people in the Bay Area assumed it was the match in question, and due to the details of the fight divulged by Bruce in the interview, Wong Sifu thought it was too.
When it comes to the controversy surrounding this match I think the main problem for most people is that in order for one side or the other to be right about what happened, someone must have lied. Honestly, I hate to say it, but I think Bruce fibbed about the outcome. Some of the circumstantial evidence supports this because his story doesn't completely line up with Linda Lee's. He said he threw this "kung fu cat" down to the ground and held his fist over him and got him to say, "I give up." I believe Linda says he pounded Wong Sifu in the face until he got him to give up. That is unlikely because Ming Lum says he saw no wounds on Wong's face (except for the scratch above his eye) when he saw him the very next day and neither Bill Chen nor David Chin would tell you that's what happened.
I hope this doesn't make it seem like I really hate BL or anything. I've known plenty of guys like him in the world of martial arts. It would have been extremely difficult for a guy like Bruce to admit defeat. His reputation as a qualified instructor could have been damaged and he billed himself as being the best kung fu fighter around. Sure he had a huge ego but that's the case with most of the martial artists I've ever known. It can be difficult to train with guys like that because they're always asserting themselves and trying to show you up but that's just what you get with some extreme MA enthusiasts like Bruce.
Last edited by Siu Lum Fighter; 09-07-2011 at 02:36 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)