William Cheung and Emin Boztepe (Wing Chun incident)

[ChangWuJi]

The Germany Incident:

 

Ten years After

 

Written by Marty Goldberg

 

Interview by Russ Urquhart

 

 

 

"10 years ago, what many consider to be the most degrading crime

 

ever committed in martial arts history occurred in Cologne, Germany.

 

Grandmaster William Cheung, of Traditional Wing Chun, had been asked

 

to take time out of his busy seminar schedule to give a special two

 

day seminar in Germany. Always happy to accommodate people, Grandmaster

 

Cheung added the two days, unknowingly stepping in to a detailed plan

 

set up by Leung Ting to defame him. The end result was an illegally

 

distributed and highly edited video clip that wound up as an addition

 

to Leung Ting's video tape Dynamic Wing Tsun, and did nothing more but

 

to further hurt the image of Wing Chun Kung Fu.

 

This article, composed of interviews with the Grandmaster done

 

over 1994-95, will explain for the fist time in the pages of IKF, Grandmaster

 

Cheung's explanation of what went on that day in Cologne. Also for the

 

first time in print, a detailed account of Leung Ting's four stage plan

 

for the Germany ambush that was recently exposed by another senior student

 

of Grandmaster Yip Man's that resides in northern Europe.

 

----------

 

Background

 

----------

 

At the time of the Germany ambush, there was much turmoil going

 

on within the Wing Chun family as to who had seniority, who was most

 

qualified, etc. The general public was exposed to this through letters

 

back and forth between many of the seniors and juniors, that appeared in

 

this magazine as well as others.

 

GM Cheung: "Well, many many years prior (to the incident), Leung Ting and

 

I were on speaking terms. But, I think it was just some misunderstanding

 

or something. And also, the other...there was a lot of question and answer

 

back and so on, on the magazines. Relating to who's seniority, and who's

 

more qualified. So..you know, it never was in my mind that he would try

 

something like (the Germany ambush)."

 

The missunerstanding in question is a result of two pieces of

 

misinformation. One was an incorrect interpretation of one of Grandmaster

 

Cheung's letters to state that he would "fight anyone, anywhere, anytime".

 

Those knowledgable in tradition, know that you can not challenge a senior.

 

One of the first things taught in any Kung Fu is that no members of the

 

same family should fight amongst themselves, and secondly to respect your

 

seniors.

 

The second misinterpretation was an incident that occurred in

 

New York, several months before the Germany ambush. Leung Ting was giving

 

a seminar in New York on his art Wing Tsun. Unknown to Grandmaster Cheung,

 

several of his students had chosen to attend this seminar. Leung Ting

 

wanted a volunteer to help him demonstrate his superior reflexes. He

 

chose one of GM Cheung's students, who happened to be wearing a World

 

Wing Chun Kung Fu Association (the governing body of Traditional Wing Chun)

 

t-shirt. The student managed to get through Leung Ting's guard and slap

 

his face a couple of times. One of Leung Ting's bodyguards immediately

 

jumped in, several other of GM Cheung's students jumped in to help, and

 

a large confrontation occurred, until one of GM Cheung's students finally

 

calmed the situation down. The event was not planned, and later upon hearing

 

of the disturbance that occurred, GM Cheung severely reprimanded the students

 

who had taken part.

 

--------------------------------

 

What Actually occurred in Germany

 

--------------------------------

 

GM Cheung: Several months later, somebody asked me to organize a seminar

 

in Germany for Traditional Wing Chun.The person who asked it, doesn't

 

practice Wing Chun, so he teamed up with a Wing Chun instructor that

 

had a school there. So they organized two days, Saturday and Sunday.

 

Russ: Now the seminar that they asked you, was this part of kind of what

 

you're doing now, this was a set of seminars you were doing, and someone

 

said we want one in Germany?

 

GM Cheung: Yah, yes.

 

Russ: Had you been to Germany before this?

 

GM Cheung: No.....yah, I've been there once before, but it was just on

 

tour.

 

Russ: Did you have much of an organization or a lot of Traditional Wing Chun

 

people in Germany at that time?

 

GM Cheung: No, not one single person. It was just someone that came out

 

from the blue and said "Look, let's do a seminar in Cologne". Before I

 

went to Germany, I was warned by a friend to keep out of trouble with the

 

law there because they dealt barbarically with foreigners, putting them in

 

jail for months without even questioning them if they broke the law. This

 

was a fact that stuck in my mind. Also, as I was only in Germany to do

 

one seminar, I did not obtain a work permit, so I knew if this was

 

discovered I would be in a lot of trouble and probably be detained there

 

for a long time.

 

On Saturday, the seminar began at 11am, and the organizer, Augustine

 

Yiu was late to pick me up. By the time I arrived at the university

 

basketball stadium (gym) where the seminar was to take place, the

 

participants were already inside. We were approached by two people, a

 

photographer and a journalist, from a German martial arts magazine who said

 

they wanted to interview me during the break. They wanted some photos

 

straight away and asked me to change in to my Kung Fu suit and slippers.

 

I complied and they took some photos of me in various poses. Because things

 

were running very late, I didn't have time to change back to my normal

 

track shoes and outfit.

 

It was time for the seminar to start and there were almost a 100

 

people there. So I started with some warm-ups, light warm-ups, Wing Chun

 

punching, and coordination drills. So after about fifteen or twenty

 

minutes, I sort of went around to check everybody's movements. So, one

 

chap came up with a couple of other guys walking behind him. One of them

 

introduced himself as Emin Boztepe, a student of Keith Kernspecht. He

 

was holding an issue of Combat Magazine in his hand that contained a copy

 

of an open letter which I had written to Lok Yiu, Leung Shung, Tsui Shun

 

Tin, and Wong Shun Leung some time ago. He wanted to ask some questions

 

about what I had previously said in the article. So I said, "Look, you just

 

read it, it's very clear". He said, "No, no, no, I want to challenge you."

 

I said although he did not have the seniority, by all means I would

 

humour him after the seminar. But let's please do it after. And then I just

 

walked away and didn't take much notice.

 

When I started the second sort of technique drill, he came over again,

 

and I noticed there's about 10-15 people walking behind and around him. And

 

as soon as he came up, they went and formed a circle around us. And he said,

 

"I want to fight you now." And I said, "Well, that's different. You said

 

you wanted to spar and now you want to fight." I said, "Let's do it after

 

class." And he began mumbling something, and I said, "Look, you know, I

 

granted you the fight after the class. And strictly speaking, you're not

 

even in my seniority." So I walked away, but I knew he more or less

 

was going to try something. So after I walked away, the third step he

 

rushed in and threw a round punch with his right arm.

 

Russ: What did you think when this happened? Had you ever been in a

 

situation like this where you're teaching and someone had done this to

 

you before?

 

GM Cheung: No. In the exact same terms, when I first came to New York

 

(in 1983), in the seminar, they always want to test this and test that.

 

I always give them a chace. But this one, I knew it was different

 

because he had a whole group of people. When the second time he came up,

 

there's another 14-15 people with this time I noticed. So when I started

 

to walk away, the circle had been formed. They sort of put their arm up,

 

so that the other students could not get close. I had a German interpreter

 

standing next to me, and as it happened, someone put him in a headlock

 

and pulled him back behind the circle. And I knew it wasn't one person

 

at that moment, though I didn't know what the numbers were. So, you

 

know, he just jumped in and threw the punch and then I swung around and

 

shot out a Bil Sao (thrusting arm), which stopped his sucker punch. At

 

the same time, I front kicked him. It was always in the back of my mind,

 

if I hurt somebody it will involve the law and it will be so complicated.

 

So I more or less kicked just to push him away. But because I was wearing

 

the Kung Fu slippers, and the floor was polished timber and very slippery,

 

I slid away on impact. That was the other thing in my mind, that is why

 

I wanted to do it after the class (besides the reason that it was not

 

proper to interrupt other people's time that they are paying good money

 

for), that way I could change my shoes. Boztepe rushed in again throwing

 

punches furiously, so I sidestepped. I did the Jut Sao (jerking arm) and

 

Huen Sao (rotating wrist) to diffuse his punches. Then I used Pak Sao (push

 

block) to control his elbow. Because the floor was so slippery, I wound

 

up behind him. So I put him in a headlock, because my intention was only

 

to restrain him, not to fight him. Then I thought for a moment I was

 

going to...you know, might as well poke him in the eye and finish it right

 

there. He was struggling like a wounded mule because he had no countering

 

technique against the headlock. Because of the slipperiness of the floor

 

and my shoes, I was sliding around like I was on roller skates. At that

 

time, I started slipping, and then he fell as well. He was more or less

 

lying on top of me. Then he was sitting on my stomach, and tried to throw

 

a few punches which I blocked with Bil Sao's to the elbow. Then I arched

 

my body so he was trying to balance more or less, and then I kneed him a

 

couple of times. After that, somebody called out, Boztepe got up and

 

ran away. And as I got up, then I saw at least 20 people run out from the

 

gym. Somebody said that they had video cameras and regular cameras.

 

Russ: Did anyone try and do anything?

 

GM Cheung: No, because they already formed a circle. And also, I knew at

 

least some of them had weapons. When they formed the circle, that's when

 

I got some indication from their belts that they had something there.

 

Russ: By weapons, you mean guns or?

 

GM Cheung: No, they were armed with knives or something. See, and only

 

during the last month or six weeks when I talked to another Wing Chun --

 

modified Wing Chun -- instructor, and he told me there's no way they would

 

let me win, because they would come one after one after one for five or

 

six times. If I beat up one, the other one would jump in straight away.

 

And then another one, and another one. And then even after five or six,

 

then the whole lot would jump in. There's no way they would let me win.

 

Russ: So was he saying that he knew this was going to happen?

 

GM Cheung: Yah, it was all planned. You know, they deliberately set the

 

interview before...so that the journalists was there.

 

Russ: Do you feel this was a plan just by these guys that did this, or do

 

you feel that Leung Ting was aware of this and had something to do with this?

 

GM Cheung: Leung Ting was for sure behind it, and then this Keith

 

Kernspecht, Leung Ting's student in Germany. They were behind it. But,

 

because, well he didn't land any punches. I just happened to slip on the

 

ground, and he was on top. And so, after they ran away, there was a little

 

bit of chaos. But I told them "Don't worry about it, we'll carry on with

 

the seminar." So everybody, apart from those people who ran away, everybody

 

stayed. So we carried on for another 3 1/2 hours.

 

In fact, during the break, after another hour and a half, during the

 

break the journalist was asking for more photo's. So I had to pose for more

 

photo's. And I'm sure at least one or two..maybe not all of them ran away..

 

because we don't know who they were, so they're still in the seminar. And

 

then when I was posing for photo's for the camera, some guy yelled out--

 

oh, what about he got beaten up, what about this or that. So the journalist

 

started asking questions. But I said, "There was a little situation, you

 

know." I told them what happened.

 

Russ: So what was your feeling at that time? Were you very angry?

 

GM Cheung: Well, I was a bit disappointed more than angry. I was

 

disappointed that...firstly, in Kung Fu, the respect towards elders, towards

 

seniors is very strong. And they claim to be Wing chun people. Then to set

 

up such an ambush. You know, I was a bit disappointed. And also, I felt

 

that was a bit low because I knew there's no way they would let me have a

 

fair fight because they had all these people there. And more so, because

 

there were other disciplines there, there was some Karate and some Tae Kwon

 

Do disciplines there.....to witness such behaviour. You know in fact, because

 

I didn't know they were going to try something the next day, so I cancelled

 

the next day. And about two weeks later, I got back to Australia, I had

 

received about 10 letters offering their support, the people that attended

 

the seminar.

 

Russ: So once you returned to Australia, did you try and contact Leung Ting?

 

GM Cheung: No, no, because I had some commitments in Sydney. So it happened

 

to be Dave Cater and one of Black Belt's journalists was in Sydney. And we

 

had lunch there. This was just like two weeks after the event.

 

Russ: So they had heard....

 

GM Cheung: Oh, they knew about it.

 

Russ: What do you think, or what happened as a result of it?

 

GM Cheung: Well, it just let everybody find out how low can Leung Ting get

 

to. But I did have a meeting with my Association people, and we decided we

 

would not go down to that low.

 

Russ: I would assume a lot of your people wanted to retaliate?

 

GM Cheung: Oh yah, but I told them no, I don't want that. See, you can only

 

fight a dog down to the dog's level. So I told them no. But they did send

 

letters, because they weren't satisfied. And this guy Emin, he sent a few

 

letters stating he wanted another rematch or something. And I just told him,

 

I said, "Look, you're not in the seniority to do a rematch." I gave him six

 

photo's and six persons, if he wants to have a good fight just pick any of my

 

instructors. Never heard from him since.

 

Russ: But, you didn't want to fight a rematch, or?

 

GM Cheung: Nah, nah, he's no match. He can't throw punches (laugh). I mean,

 

I would not have granted him another opportunity to degrade martial arts.

 

The whole episode took over 20 seconds to take place. I have seen both

 

the unedited version of the event on tape, as well as the edited version

 

available to the public (on Dynamic Wing Tsun). When we were on the ground,

 

Boztepe threw seven or so punches and I blocked all of them. This is proven

 

on the videos, because it still showed despite their editing. They cut out

 

my kicking Boztepe when he first jumped in, and also putting him in a head-

 

lock. They still could not make it look like I was hurt. The fact that I

 

resumed teaching the seminar after the fight and had another photo session

 

with the magazine in the break later only confirms that I blocked all of

 

Boztepe's punches. But I still wonder whether Boztepe was hurt from the

 

strikes of my knees.

 

Russ: You didn't see this as a challenge match in the traditional sense,

 

because it seems like from what you told me there wasn't the respect, this

 

just wasn't a traditional challenge....

 

GM Cheung: Nah. You can not challenge your senior. I would never grant a

 

challenge to a junior. There are times and places for them to say things.

 

See, Leung Ting is two generations from me. And this guy is another two

 

generations down. If these things start to happen, the whole organization,

 

the whole discipline will collapse. So, they have to go back and study the

 

tradition.

 

Russ: So it's 8 years later, how do you feel about this?

 

GM Cheung: I don't think it really matters, because those people are not

 

training in Wing Chun anymore. Well, they might claim to be teaching Wing

 

Chun, but they're not teaching Wing Chun.

 

Russ: As part of the Reunification tour, have you tried to speak to Leung

 

Ting?

 

GM Cheung: Yah, in fact when I was in L.A. two months ago, David Cater had

 

told me that Leung Ting was also in town. I gave Dave Cater three phone

 

numbers that he could get to me in three different cities. But I didn't

 

hear from him.

 

Russ: When you and Leung Ting were speaking, because you mentioned that

 

earlier, what sort of relationship did you have?

 

GM Cheung: Well, it was all right, it was quite cordial.

 

Russ: Did he respect your seniority and your position, or was it just kind

 

of where we both do the same thing?

 

GM Cheung: He was always addressing me as Sisook, which is one generation

 

away from him. So he always did that to skip one more generation. I mean,

 

showing respect is not for the other people, it's actually for your self.

 

Russ: So do you see him ever recognizing your total seniority and recognizing

 

the Traditional Wing Chun family?

 

GM Cheung: Oh yah, because nobody can change the truth.

 

 

 

Four Stage Plan of Germany Ambush

 

---------------------------------

 

First stage: The Set Up - prior to the attack, the conspirators

 

organized an interview and photo session with a German martial

 

arts magazine, which was to take place before the seminar

 

commenced. This ensured that they had photos of GM Cheung in the

 

state before and after the attack. They also lured him to change in

 

to his silk Kung Fu suit and shoes, because they knew that this attire

 

is not practical in activities such as sparring or fighting,

 

especially on a hardwood polished gym floor.

 

Second stage: Hand to Hand Combat - There were six first lot reserve

 

fighters standing nearby to take over if Boztepe, the first challenger,

 

was defeated or appeared to be defeated. However, there were not

 

any specific plans regarding whether the reserve fighters would join

 

in one after another or all together. It was decided earlier that,

 

during this stage, they would stick to hand to hand combat. During the

 

time of the fighting, the photographer and video cameramen would record

 

as much material as possible for later usage. I.e. editing, splicing,

 

duplicating, copying, etc., to make an artificial documentary in order

 

to discredit GM Cheung. There was a total of eighteen people involved

 

in the ambush, including one still camera operator and two video

 

operators.

 

Third stage: The Armed Assault - This plan was to be carried out if the

 

second stage failed. The rest of the conspirators were instructed to

 

attack GM Cheung (as well as any people who tried to help) with weapons

 

they would smuggle in to the seminar. The instruction was to restrict

 

the weapons to blunt instruments.

 

Fourth stage: The Witnesses - The plan also allowed some of the

 

conspirators to stay back to bear witness afterwards."

 

http://www.enteract.com/~weishaar/martial/docs/cheung_attack

 

keep in mind that there are different versions, and points of view of the story.

[Bon]

::edit:: Edited September 29, 2002 by Bon

[ChangWuJi]

Boztepe went on to challenge other people such as Gracies as well. Here is what he wrote:

 

A WORLD-WIDE OPEN CHALLENGE TO THE GRACIE-FAMILY

 

Los Angeles, 26th October 1994

 

Emin Boztepe

 

5th level Practician EWTO / IWTMAA

 

Headman of the AWTO (American WingTsun Organization)

 

 

 

"After having watched your "Ultimate Fighting Championships" held by the Gracie-Family, I cannot find them very "ultimate" but only amusing. These so-called "ultimate fights' may impress laymen or beginners, but in fact they are no more real than the professional Wrestling shows on TV.

 

What depresses me is that I heard of some rumors that I would not dare to accept your challenge. In fact I have never received any such challenge! Do you want me to appear like a coward? When I talked to Benny Urquidez in Germany, he told me that you people had played him the same dirty old trick for propaganda. Not long ago you even challenged the great man of American wrestling Gene LeBell. A very brave act indeed, since Mr. LeBell is over 60 years old.

 

Now in the second "Ultimate Fighting Championships"-Show you people even (ab-)used two stupid wing chun-men to perform some funny movements so as to represent "Kung Fu". And at the same time you claimed to have defeated two "wing chun'-fighters in the first bout.

 

Although I am a WingTsun-Fighter of the Leung Ting WingTsun-System, which is very different from the generic wing chun-style in theory and practice and is highly compatible in ground-fighting, I feel bad that you brothers use these kinds of dirty tricks to put down the late Great Grandmaster Yip Man's other students, their schools as well as other respectable martial arts styles or stylists!

 

I keep the record of over 300 bare-hand fights and have never been defeated. However, I have never talked bad about my losers and all the other styles. But so as to educate you Gracies to respect the others, my students I hereby turn the tables on you by challenging all you people of the Gracie-Family.

 

I can send 5 or more fighters from the AWTO to fight the Gracies. If you have more fighters in the Gracie-Family, just inform me and I shall report this to the International Headquarters and we will satisfy you with as many fighters as necessary.

 

We like the so-called "No rules at all" Game as advertised in your propaganda. No gloves, no time-limit, the person who knocks out his opponent is the winner. This is exactly the way we WingTsun-people fought in China in the olden times. We do not mind fighting you people in the ring set up by your own organization. The only thing that we want is to fight openly, so all the audience, reporters, TV-people and martial artists can see if you can really fight against us. We only want two conditions:

 

1) We only fight you Gracies. For we do not want to give you the chance to use any helpful idiots to protect you as "shields". So we will only fight you directly and no others!

 

2) The winner takes all the money. We only want our expenses paid. The rest of the money will all be used for charity.

 

If you Gracie-brothers dare not to accept our challenge, I do not mind. But remember: Never put down any other martial art styles from now on.

 

 

 

This letter was sent to the Gracies and published in many (international) ma magazines.

 

I have added here a question and an answer of this related matter. This 'fragment' came from a complete interview that was placed in the OCT 95 edition of the Martial Arts Illustrated, Frank Schäfer Sifu.

 

 

 

Thomas Nilsson:

 

"People have often claimed that if you don't compete, you can't prove how good (or bad) your martial art is..."

 

Emin Boztepe:

 

"Well, I think this attitude is beginning to change a bit now. I challenged the Gracie brothers because of their big mouth and now they are only excusing themselves, they only want to fight in their own environment. They no longer accept any challengers outside the UFC or even outside the state of California.

 

The truth of the matter is, Gracies never fight outside of their own school and their own environment. Now, when they say they won't accept any outside challengers any more, I say "what any more?" I never saw them fight outside of their own organisation in America! Basically, they are just talking around and I don't want to get too deep into this now.

 

But in short, I recently had a phone call from Rorion Gracie who respected everything that I had said, two of my friends listened in on a speaker phone. And Rorion said that this thing would go on and on forever, letter would be sent back and forth forever and the fight will never take place.

 

I said: Listen, Mr. Gracie, you are the one who has called me a coward, but it's not on me, it's you who is the coward. Just take off your suit and tie and come out on the street! And now he even refuses to admit that he once challenged (Mike) Tyson, but he did just that in an article entitled "The Amazing Gracies", published in American Kung Fu and Karate Illustrated.

 

Obviously they (the Gracies) did this for publicity and now they are accusing me of challenging them as a publicity stunt!

 

I'm alone in the USA. I don't have a family to hide behind and everyone who knows me, knows that I didn't challenge the Gracies just to get personal publicity.

 

Now they (Royce Gracie) are calling me a circus clown, but look who's fighting in a cage! I am not a clown, I'm a serious martial artist and I have many famous martial arts champions backing me up as my friends; Gene LeBell, Bob Wall, Bill Wallace, Benny Urquidez as well as my own students who know I'm for real. I didn't go out looking for personal publicity.

 

Okay, I beat up William Cheung once because he was trying to pull the same stunt as the Gracies are doing now. The point is, the Gracies are hiding out in their own environment or they go out five, six brothers together..."

 

http://www.wingtsun.nl/chal-grc.htm

 

 

 

Here are some clips of Boztepe:

 

http://www.weboutsourcing.com/wingtsun/wt_defenses.mpa

 

http://www.weboutsourcing.com/wingtsun/sifuemin_chi-sau.mpa

 

What do you guys think?

 

 

 

[ This Message was edited by: ChangWuJi on 2002-02-14 23:51 ]

[YODA]

I have his "Anti-Grappling" Tape and honestly - I'd say anyone his size and with a purple belt or higher in BJJ would whoop ass on him if he tried any of THAT. As for taking on someone like Rickson - gimme a break!

 

 

 

 

[Aikidoka]

I have only watched the first clip but from what I've seen I'm not impressed. His techniques were either very basic or entirely unrealistic. You could teach someone to do what he does as well as he does it in an hour and a half. No flow, no sticking hands, no trapping - just fast with lots of chain punching and brute force!

[YODA]

I've seen the tape of the so called "fight" between WC & EB - I saw no Wing Chun that's for sure. All I saw was a cheap shot followed by two kids scrappin' in the playground. The terms "Grandmaster" & "Master" did not spring to mind!

 

 

 

 

[mastertae]

yes...ive seen that tape too it was obvious that even with the tape edited that wc had a great disadvantage...and that he was trying "not" to fight for fear of being arrested and he kept on slipping due to the floors surface and the shoes he wore that day...he agreed to a one on one fight but instead got a on on many fight

[Shaolin]

If he's any good it doesn't come through in the videos. His technique looks sloppy and flimsy. I’ve seen much better in my late master’s school.

 

 

[Drunken Monkey]

i never put too much faith in a video, the simple case being that you can stage anything.

 

my cousin and i set up "fight scenes" all of the time.

 

all it takes is a few minutes and imagination.

 

if you want i can make a short video to show you how "good" a martial "artist" i am.

 

 

[stonecrusher69]

I want to make a comment about the post The Germany Incident. I believe a few facts are incorrect. When Leung Ting had a seminar in NYC I was there at the time so I know what when down. Frist, it was stated that students of Grandmaster Cheung had gotten past Leung Ting's guard and slap his face a couple a times.Well that never happen!! at all.one student of GM Cheung did chi sao with sifu Leung Ting student and Cheung student tried very hard to hit him.I don't remember if he did but both of them started grappling and fell down a couple of stairs.It was stated that sifu Leung Ting had a body guard but he had only his students there. Also,It was stated that GM Cheung students finally calmed the situation down,but that is not true it was Sifu Leung Ting that had calmed things down by removing the two stundents of GM Cheung.

 

I also just want to say that in your post you don't show any respect to sifu Leung Ting. You call Cheung Grandmaster but never sifu or master to Leung Ting. I also want to say I'm not a student of sifu Leung Ting just a person who was ther at the time and knows a lie when he hears one.