Joe Lewis on Bruce Lee

[Kickbox]

I'll admit it I am a fan of Joe Lewis as the founder of American kickboxing . I have his new book "How to master Bruce Lee's fighting system". The real JKD was all about fighting and had very little if anything at all to do with the Filipino , Indonesian and Thai arts except that Sigung Bruce may have used the words on a philosophy paper once. Too bad Sigung didn't have a stable of fighters like Master Lewis. People would have more respect for JKD. Anyone else read the book?

[Straight Blast]

In My Opinion,Joe Lewis,Ted Wong,Taky Kimura and a very few other students under Sifu Lee were the ones who kept the JKD way Pure just as they were taught.

 

Dan Inosanto added different types of styles into JKD predicting this is the way Sifu Lee would have wanted it since he had passed away before covering all the weaknesses of his philosophy.

 

Thats why til this day there are two different types of JKD.

 

The Jun Fan way and Concepts.

[Kickbox]

Exactly! I agree 100% . Guro Dan's McJKD concepts were created long after Sigung Lee passed away. In the book the Guro's opinion differs from all other opinions of JKD. How about Mike Stone saying he couldn't really learn from Bruce Lee because he din't really think he could fight. The champions had no respect for the non competitors.

[Straight Blast]

non competitors are always the dangerous ones....just like the quiet kids in a classroom.

 

I wouldnt really call it a mcJKD,both JFJKD n JKDC both work for real combat situations.Since I Learn JKDC,and havent seen JFJKD way..i wouldnt really know how much they are different,but the concepts and the foundations are just the same.

[Hansen]

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.

[Kickbox]

That's a new one about the ear pull. Most people have said that Bruce pulled Linda in between him and Joe Lewis and Joe left because Linda thought he was wrong to accuse Bruce of making a pass at Joe's wife. Bruce was known to love the women.

Mike Stone, Joe Lewis and Chuck Norris were non-paying students. Bruce recruited them because they were champions and it would look impressive if Bruce was teachmg champions.

I too have wondered why Joe Lewis would say Bruce was the greatest teacher in one interview then say Bruce couldn't fight in the next interview. In his prime 66-75 Joe Lewis was the undisputed greatest fighter. Even Bruce Lee said Joe was the best fighter of the times. In Joe Lewis' new book "How to master Bruce Lee's fighting method" Dan Inosanto, Ted Wong ( who took private lessons with Joe under Bruce Lee) and others agree Joe Lewis was the best fighter ever trained by Bruce Lee.

You know what I think? I think that some writers have overstated a few passing remarks and made it sound like Joe doesn't respect Bruce Lee. That is far from the truth since Joe has often stated that he owes his skill to training with Bruce lee.

[ovine king]

In My Opinion,Joe Lewis,Ted Wong,Taky Kimura and a very few other students under Sifu Lee were the ones who kept the JKD way Pure just as they were taught.

Dan Inosanto added different types of styles into JKD predicting this is the way Sifu Lee would have wanted it since he had passed away before covering all the weaknesses of his philosophy.

Thats why til this day there are two different types of JKD.

The Jun Fan way and Concepts.

Kind of true but not that simple.

There's also the point that (what used to be the) foundation wanted absolute control over everything bruce Lee related, including the name of things that are tuaght. Dan Inosanto wanted to continue teaching the thing that he had been doing for lord knows how long following how the methodology of how he was taught, which like it not is mainly from Bruce Lee and his various versions of JKD.

If they didn't fight over the right to use certain names, which i should say i understand part of the reasoning behind, then everything would still just be JKD.

Exactly! I agree 100% . Guro Dan's McJKD concepts were created long after Sigung Lee passed away. In the book the Guro's opinion differs from all other opinions of JKD. How about Mike Stone saying he couldn't really learn from Bruce Lee because he din't really think he could fight. The champions had no respect for the non competitors.

Firstly, seeing as how JKD concepts is the thing that Dan Inosanto teaches, I don't think it is appropriate for you to be tagging it McJKD as it is directly attacking it and all schools of it. Now ignoring your obvious bias and dislike towards Dan Inosanto and his teachings I'm gong to make a simple point. It is generally agreed that the JKD that was being taught was never a finished product and is almost always a thing in progress. If no one attempted to take a step beyond what was being taught then wouldn't they be doing exactly the thing that Bruce Lee was so against (the stagnation of the arts into a fixed dogmatic practice)?

[Kickbox]

Ovnie King,

I see Mc...as a chain operation. Certainly you will agree thet the JKDC is a chain operation. There are a lot of them. I have no bias against Mr.Inosanto.After reading Dr.Beasley's article in the July issue of Black Belt things seem less political and more clear to me. Before I read the article i thought Guro Dan changed things. Now I think he did what was right. I can also, for the first time see how the OJKD people are very correct. It's two versions of JKD, each represents a particular phase in his life. Both are right and, according to the article, do not oppose each other. See my earlier post " Why Dan Inosanto is the leader".

[Jbone1]

Bruce wasn't cocky or arrogant he was confident especially in situations with no rules.

I read Chuck Norris' book and he said he beat Joe 3-4 times. In one tournament he beat him on a last second side-kick and Bruce was present. That's when he and Bruce met. Chuck competed from early in the morning till 11 at night. He said they got to talking in the elevator up to their rooms and around 12 they got off on one of their floors.

Still deep into each others ideas of Martial Arts they started to exchange ideas and movements and went on till 4 in the morning. After that long day and becoming a champ, Chuck stayed up that late with Bruce. He said Bruce was so dynamic that it all seemed like 20 minutes.

The only flaw Chuck said Bruce had in terms of a person was that everything seemed to become a training lesson in life. Chuck felt he should have lightened up. Chuck also had dinner with Bruce and Bob Wall a few days before his death. Bruce told them about his checkup he had to get due to his headaches. The doctors said he had the insides of an 18 year old.

Then Chuck got the phone call, he attended the Seattle funeral. He rode the plane with the other stars he said it was real quiet. Anyway Chuck spoke highly of Bruce and the times they trained. He said Bruce had a lot of equipment and the way he spoke he showed great respect for the Master of Self Expression.

So don't always take what you read as fact, but I believe Chuck Norris would be honest. I read where Joe said great things about Bruce the only person that may not give Bruce a ton of praise is Ed Parker. He gives credit, but IMO I think he sees a small Chinese man. That may be the case for a lot of other MA that don't give Bruce much respect. They see a little chinese man who didn't compete get all this media and claims to being the best.

It shouldn't be looked at like that, they should have challenged him.

[Menjo]

exellent post, i beleive what chuck said and its too bad people didnt challenge bruce instead of waiting for him to die and then talk behind his back...