Hansen

Kickbox - Since you are acquainted with the story, here's the version I heard from two independent individuals both of whom are VERY prominent in the JKD community. Lewis came to pay a rude visit to Bruce. Lewis bangs on Bruce's door just before dinner and Bruce answers it. There was a screen door separating the two men. Lewis begins yelling and accusing Bruce of making advances toward his wife, to which Bruce was taken aback. Bruce opens the door and grabs Lewis' ear, drags him into the kitchen (still holding his ear) and yanks him in front of Linda Lee. He demands that Lewis tell Linda what he just told him. He then shouts at him for coming to his house during dinner time and making an accusation like that and trying to break up his marriage. Lewis continued to yell but didn't have the balls to make a move. Bruce grew more and more angry, so Linda got in between the two men. After a few words were exchanged, Bruce then kicked him out of his house and that was the last he ever saw of Lewis. Whether you wish to believe the story or not is up to you. All I can say is that I heard the same story by two independent individuals. One of the individuals was very close to Bruce himself, and the stories by both individuals matched. In fact, the other person received "confirmation" from the Lewis' camp, according to him. Although he did say that the Lewis camp told it as if "Bruce was hiding behind Linda", as you stated, but he said there were too many holes in the Lewis version to believe that account. What can I say? I wasn't there and was not personally acquainted with Lewis or Bruce. But the sources are very reliable. I have never read Bruce ever stating that Joe Lewis was the best fighter of all time. If he did, it may have been just to indirectly promote himself, which he has been inclined to do. That's why he also had Norris in his film, Way of the Dragon. If he could be seen as the instructor to this "great fighter" then it only made him look better. Regardless of what he said in public, I do know for a fact that in private, he thought highly of Mike Stone. And many original students of Bruce that I've spoken with all concurred that the only tournament fighter of the day that Bruce respected as a fighter was Mike Stone. Lewis was never mentioned and I do know he considered Norris a "paper tiger". Too many congruent views from different individuals to believe the story about Lewis being the greatest in Bruce's eyes. Second, I know for a fact that Lewis, Stone, and Norris all paid Bruce, at least for some part of their time together. I have seen actual account records which Bruce kept of his students. Whether they paid for their whole duration as student-teacher is another matter. I don't know about that. But if you are right and Lewis is being misquoted then I have nothing further to say. That has been known to happen with the media, and it would make more sense of things. But I do know for a fact that Norris has publically denigrated Bruce by claiming he was only a movie- martial artist. He has even stated such on the Letterman show. But he coincidentally fails to mention the time when Bruce challenged him to fight, after Norris made a few insulting remarks in public against Bruce. After backing down, Norris wrote an apologetic letter, which is now in the hands of Dan Inosanto. And since he has been brought up, Norris is a complete fraud. First of all, he is a NON-CONTACT karate champion. That's about as meaningful to real life as being a kata champion. He was not (and still is not) a fighter. Second, he tells people that he is responsible for Bruce's incorporation of high kicks. First of all, Bruce did not heavily promote the use of high kicks in actual fighting, though he still felt they had a place when the time or situation was right. One of his favorite kicks was a low (to the knee) side kick. However, I have seen actual video footage of Bruce, taken in 1959 in Hong Kong, where he is performing high kicks and jumping kicks. This was years before he met Norris or even knew who he was. Also, Bruce was such an avid student of martial arts that he trained with guys like Jhoon Rhee and many northern Chinese stylists as well. Both make extensive use of kicks, including high kicks. So I find it hard to accept that Norris made any contribution to Bruce's kicking or thought process about kicking. From what it appears to me, Norris is just making up or distorting an incident to promote himself, to make it seem like he contributed in some manner to Bruce's JKD/Jun Fan expression. But it's all hogwash. MenteReligeuse - You look down on Bruce compared to Lewis and Norris because you state that the latter two were tournament fighters, while Bruce was not. However, you fail to note that during that time period all tournaments were non-contact. By the early seventies some semi-contact tournaments came into being along with some limited full contact competitions. But it wasn't until around 1973/74 that full contact fighting came into any notable existence. Bruce was dead by then. Norris was a champion of non-contact fighting. He was not a contact fighter. Same with Lewis until around 1970 (I think) when full contact competitions started breaking in. But unlike boxing, there's no money in full contact martial arts and Bruce was the sole breadwinner in his house with 2 children. Besides Bruce was heavily pursuing acting by that time, and most would've considered him too "over the hill" to compete by the time full contact tournaments were available. But if you know anything about Bruce, you would know that he has spoken in favor of full contact fighting long before there was MMA. He has been extremely vocal on this matter for years. And he laughed and ridiculed (even openly) non-contact and semi-contact tournaments. That's why he was not in any of these competitions. He thought they were jokes. That's why he studied boxing, wrestling, and muay Thai, but not karate. Even the full contact fights of the day were a joke. No elbowing, no kneeing, no headbutting, and no grappling. And if you've ever seen an American kickboxing tournament, it is horrible to watch. Basically, it would turn into very poorly executed boxing matches by second rate fighters, so the rules mandated that the fighters perform a certain minimum number of kicks per round. It was that stupid, and like any burgeoning competition, the early fighters were not very good. But unlike Norris, Bruce was in at least one full contact tournament. This was the Interschool Boxing Championships in Hong Kong where he KO'd the two-year reigning champion. You also state that Bruce admitted that many western competitors could beat him. I’d like to know where you read such statements. Please post the specific citation where you read that (or video) and I will go out of my way to purchase an original copy. And I will post my findings on this cite. I am not aware of any such statement being made by Bruce himself. Perhaps someone claimed he said that? I find it hard to believe simply because Bruce was such an arrogant and cocky man, according to everyone who knew him. But I am willing to explore that possibility, if you can show proof.

In my opinion, Joe Lewis is an odd one. Lewis claims that he was (and still is) a great fighter, that he was a student of Bruce, that he "mastered" Bruce Lee's fighting method, and even claims himself a worthy instructor of the style. But at the same time he denigrates the very instructor that taught him the style he boasts about so much by stating that Bruce was only a movie-fighter at best. I find that quite perplexing. After all, if you believe yourself to be a great fighter, why would you take lessons (paid lessons) from someone you believed was just a movie-fighter? It's one thing to say that you are a better fighter than your instructor (perhaps he taught you well) but it is quite another to state that your instructor is not even worthy of being called a fighter yet are willing to pay money to learn from him. It just doesn't make any sense. Same with Mike Stone (if indeed he said what you claim). Stone also paid money on more than one occasion to learn from Bruce, so I find it hard to believe Stone would say such negative things about Bruce Lee. Plus, from all the interviews I've read from Stone he has had nothing but good things to say about Bruce. All I can say is that from all my probing and research, I have never found anything authenticating Joe Lewis' authority/credentials to teach Bruce's art. But I did come across an interesting story. The details may not be appropriate for this forum, but suffice it to say that Bruce and Lewis had a major falling out. Things looked like it was going to come to blows, but in the end, Lewis backed down when Bruce made the first move by grabbing Lewis by the ear and dragging him to his knees. After that Bruce told Lewis to never come around again, and that was the last the two of them ever saw of each other. I've been able to authenticate this story from two independent sources, so I am inclined to believe it.