Boxing
The Kid From Beaufort Who Became Heavyweight Boxing Olympic Gold Medalist And World Champion
Yesterday, I told you about my awesome St. Patrick’s Day experience in Savannah, Georgia.
From there it’s only about an hour’s drive north to beautiful Beaufort, South Carolina, which is one of the nicest small towns with a lot of history and countless Victorian style homes that I have ever seen. You should go there one day.
While driving around I saw a road called “Joe Frazier Road”.
And of course I started doing some research to see if my hunch was right and yes, it was.
This road is named after “Smokin’” Joe Frazier, a native of Beaufort, SC, who lived there until the age of 15, before moving to Philadelphia.
International Boxing Hall of Famer, Joe Frazier, is still considered one the best Heavyweight boxers of all time.
He won the Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 1964 and went pro in 1965.
His fights against Muhammad Ali are legendary. One of the three is known as “The Fight Of The Century” and another “Thrilla Of Manila”.
Looking back at his very successful professional career that spanned from 1965 to 1981, Joe Frazier’s fight record stands at 32 wins – 4 losses – 1 draw.
Check out some of Joe Frazier’s highlights and look out for his devastating front left hook:
What A Week In Review At The MartialArtsReporter.com!
St. Patrick’s Day was awesome and the rest of the week wasn’t too shabby either.
If you are a single mom or know someone who is, please take note of this Personal Safety Alert For Single Moms.
We all know that Bruce Lee could punch and kick, but he also knew something about the art of fighting without fighting.
Surprise – surprise! What you didn’t know about pro golfer Phil Mickelson.
Going Green: Happy St. Patrick’s Day And Irish Stick (Shillelagh) Fighting!
This guy blows me and his opponents away: The Best Pound-For-Pound Fighter, Also The Best Ever Fighter In The World?
Amazing: Ultimate Fighting has become a household name, but what did the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC 1, Look Like?
Talk soon, my friends.
The Best Pound-For-Pound Fighter, Also The Best Ever Fighter In The World?
Without further ado, we’re talking about Brazilian Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
Silva is UFC’s Middleweight Champion of the world with 10 consecutive wins and many say he has made his weight division so boring through his seemingly invincible fighting style that the calls are getting louder for him to either lose weight to fight against GSP or gain weight to fight against Lyoto “Dragon” Machida.
Silva’s MMA record is pretty amazing: 25 wins vs. 4 losses!
His last loss was over 4 years ago via disqualification by illegal side-up kick against Japanese Yushin Okami.
Silva’s fighting arsenal is more than just impressive in my book. It’s overwhelming and at times overbearing for any opponent.
Besides being a long-time Black Belt in Taekwondo, Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, “The Spider” is a highly trained Muay Thai fighter and Western boxer.
He turns 35 in April and has expressed plans to retire fairly soon, whatever soon means. His UFC contract still calls for at least 3 more fights. We will have to wait and see.
In the meantime, check out some of Anderson “The Spider” Silva’s career highlights and be impressed:
Taekwondo Grandmaster & Man Of Contrasts, Hee Il Cho
9th degree Black Belt Master Cho, who turns 70 this year, empitomizes the winning attitude of “I Can And I Will”.
Born in Pohang, Korea, in 1940 during the Japanese occupation and growing up as an adolescent during the Korean War (1950-53) life was not for the faint of heart.
Master Cho started his martial arts training at about the age of 10 after being beaten by a couple of teenage punks.
And again, his Tang Soo Do training was not for the faint of heart. Only the toughest made it through the rigorous daily 5-6 hour grind.
By the age of only 13, Master Cho attained his 1st dan and upon reaching the age of 21 he was a 4th degree Black Belt!
He complemented his Taekwondo training with boxing for around 2 years.
When he was 22 years old, Master Cho was called to serve in the Korean Army. During his tour he even taught Taekwondo to Indian, Korean and U.S. special forces.
By the time he left Korea for the United States in 1968, Master Cho was already a 6th dan.
After moving from Chicago, South Bend (Indiana) and Providence (Rhode Island) he ended up in Los Angeles where he lived, trained and taught from 1975 till 2000.
No other Taekwondo practitioner in the world has donned more martial arts magazine covers than Master Cho. More than 70 times!
Master Cho has been considered controversial by some in the Takewondo community for his views on how the art should progress and evolve, all whilst maintaining tradition and on the same token expecting TKD to move forward. He also ruffled feathers for incorporating boxing training and techniques to make Taekwondo practitioners more-rounded martial artists.
The Black Belt Hall of Fame Inductee and Black Belt Instructor of the Year has been marveled for his kicking abilities, especially his spinning kicks.
Master Cho has displayed his amazing kicking skills in countless books (e.g. “Man Of Contrasts”), videos, movies and seminars conducted throughout his martial arts career that now spans 60 years.
Hee Il Cho continues to teach in Hawaii where he now lives.
I would like to end today’s post with a very interesting statement Master Cho made in reference to a number of incidents, in which after being challenged by some guys walking into his school and beating them and then only to get sued for injuring them.
“All this has created a great conflict within me, for if I cannot use my skill to protect myself from any person who walks in off the street and demands a fight, how can I hope my student will retain confidence in my ability to teach them this skill? And yet, if I use my skill and hurt someone, even in self-defense, have I not betrayed the spirit of what martial arts are all about?”
And I know how much you enjoy “Masters In Action”:
Last Week In Review February 2010 At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
Over the last 5 months since the inception of TheMartialArtsReporter.com my foremost goal has been and will continue to be to provide my readers with the greatest possible diversity of mainly positive martial arts related posts.
Readership has been growing faster than anticipated and I am certainly more than happy about that.
I’ll be honest with you: Make my day simply by visiting this blog whenever you want a quick ‘lift me up’ and tell all your friends about it.
If you have ever sent any comments in the past, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Don’t stop now!
If you haven’t so far, please feel free to share your thoughts on any of the previous 160 posts.
Thank you so much for your continuing support and interest.
This year seems to be moving at lightning speed. Two months have already passed and here’s the last Week In Review February 2010:
Years before Bruce Lee, …Extreme Pushups By Fitness Legend Jack LaLanne
An important topic in anybody’s life, … No Fear Or Know Fear?
Jean-Paul Belmondo … I Really Think He Was “The French Steve McQueen”
Consider Mokuso Or The Power Of Meditation Not Only For Martial Artists
Did The Movie “Enough” With Jennifer Lopez Help Women’s Self-Defense?
High-grade Muay Thai … From The Netherlands, The First Foreigner To Be Named “Muay Thai Fighter Of The Year”
Enjoy And Don’t Be A Stranger!
I Really Think He Was “The French Steve McQueen”
Our today’s person of interest was a boxer and a very promising European football/soccer player before becoming an extremely successful actor on the Big Screen in Europe in the 60s through the 80s.
Born in a suburb of Paris in 1934, Jean-Paul Belmondo, shot to fame in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 classic Breathless which was later rehashed with Richard Gere.
He rapidly became the most popular French star of the decade, working with top directors like Louis Malle and Francois Truffaut.
Belmondo was a major box-office draw in countless movies and the epitomy of the French rogue in films like 1930s gangster saga Borsalino and spy thriller That Man From Rio.
Later he starred in a bunch of far-fetched action sagas and comedies, preferring to do his own stunts. You know how I appreciate that!
American movie and TV series buffs will like this:
Belmondo was saluted in a 1967 episode of the U.S. television sitcom Get Smart.
In the episode “The Spirit is Willing” a top agent of the sinister spy agency KAOS is named Paul John Mondebello, an obvious alteration of Belmondo’s name.
My personal favorite Belmondo movie is The Professional (Le Professionel) directed by French director Georges Lautner, which is based on the award-winning 1976 novel Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal by Patrick Alexander.
The music was composed by the legendary Ennio Morricone and the theme music Chi Mai became a worldwide hit.
The plot goes something like this:
Belmondo plays French secret agent Beaumont, who is sent to Malagawi (fictional African country) to kill their president for life (=dictator) Colonel Njala. But before he can get to Malagawi, the political situation changes and the French secret service betrays him to African authorities. After a long and of course unfair trial (Belmondo’s character is drugged) he is slapped with a long-term prison sentence.
Our hero however escapes to France and lets his former chiefs know that he still plans to kill Njala, who is in France for an official visit. That’s his way to get revenge on the ones who betrayed him. And boy, do they get nervous and send their henchmen on his trail.
Belmondo, I mean Beaumont, is always at least one step ahead of them. And in the process humiliating and even eliminating some of the major betrayers. He even manages to kill Njala simply by leading his rivals to accidentally killing the dictator.
But as he tries to escape ….
Heck, I can’t give everything away, because you might watch the movie one day, right?!
Here’s the trailer (in French) with some action scenes all shot about 30 years ago.
Au revoir, mes amis!
Greetings! Enjoy The Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
This sure was another exciting week at The MartialArtsReporter.com!
And here it is “The Week In Review”.
I hope you enjoy your Sunday and find the time to take in all the video clips in their entirety.
Celebrating The Life Of Brandon Lee, Who Would Have Turned 45 Today
Get A Great Lower Body Stretching Workout In Only 3 Minutes!
Here’s An Upper Body Stretching Workout In Just 3 Minutes!
Boxing Insights From My Filipino-American Barber
Jeff Imada, The Genius Behind Great Action Movies
We Will Never Forget 9/11 American Hero And Judo Champion, Jeremy Glick
I hope you come back tomorrow for a new post.
Take care. Stay safe.
Boxing Insights From My Filipino-American Barber
It was really time to get my hair cut. I kept on putting it off because of busyness. Does that ever happen to you, too?
If you have been following this blog during the last couple of months y’all know that I have a favorite barber. Just check the archives on the right.
Let’s just call him “Danny”. He is a naturalized U.S. American and originally from the Philippines. Like all Filipinos I have met so far, he too is just the nicest guy you can entrust your hair-styling needs with.
We always talk about the Philippines and fighting arts such as Arnis, Eskrima, Kali and of course Western boxing. Also because the arguably best boxer of all time is Filipino. Most of you probably know whom I am talking about: Manny Pacquiao (did I spell that right?).
Alright, so we got over the news that Floyd (Mayweather Jr.) just isn’t that into Manny (Pacquiao) and their fight scheduled for this coming March has been cancelled, for now anyway.
Instead, Floyd will be fighting Shane (Mosley) on May 1 and Manny (Pacquiao) vs. Joshua (Clottey) mid March. Both fights are welterweight division bouts.
That’s sounds interesting, but I needed to know more (the investigative reporter that I am!):
My question: “Danny, why isn’t Floyd fighting against Manny?”
His answer: “Because Floyd is suing Manny for taking drugs!!!!”
My reaction: “What?? ?*&%$#.”
His answer: “Let me explain this to you, my priend. Alright?!’
My response: “Are you sure you’re not cutting my hair too short?”
His answer: “You keep on coming back to see me. So no, it’s not too short! Now listen to me, my priend. Mayweather is calling for random blood tests for all future opponents including Pacquiao, because he wants to clean up boxing. Haha. He requested this after they had all agreed on random urine testing, even though it’s not required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that regulates all professional boxing fights. Manny was alright with 3 blood tests, but not within 24 days of the fight and then he went along with a blood test right after the fight. Do you understand, my priend?
My response: “Hmm. Yeah, sure. So are they ever going to fight? Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, I mean.”
His final answer (because my hair was really getting kinda short, even though he would never admit that): “This would be the most lucrative fight in all of boxing history. If Mayweather and Pacquiao do step into the same ring at the same time, the prize money could possibly gross US$200 million. So I think everybody involved is going to do whatever it takes to make this happen.”
My response: “Now I get it. By the way, my hair looks great and you are a true artist, Danny, my Filipino-American barber. Talk to you again in a couple of weeks.”
Is UFC’s Dana White Rooting For Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell Or Tito “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz?
Well, it sure sounds like these two former Light Heavyweight Champions will be facing off again in “The Octagon” in the very near future. Supposedly sometime this Summer.
Let’s have a look at the stats, shall we?!
Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, age 40, 204 lbs., 6’2″, record of 21 wins and 7 losses
versus
Tito “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz, age 35, 205 lbs., 6’2″, record of 15 wins, 7 losses and 1 draw, whereas two of his losses were against his next opponent who just happens to be Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell!
Dana White is bringing back these two MMA legends to fight each other, because there are still some unanswered issues between them and their names with considerable fan bases will certainly draw big crowds.
It’s simply good for business and that’s very important for MMA and UFC in specific if they want to continue to leave professional boxing in the rearview mirror.
My question however is, “Is Dana White Rooting For Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell Or Tito “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz?”.
To answer that question, let’s just check out these clips I found:
For Tito 
or
for Chuck
Let me know what you think.
Robert Trias, Founder Of The First U.S. Karate School
With today’s post I am continuing my sporadic series of all-time “First …”.
Yesterday, we had “James Cagney, First Martial Artist To Star In A Movie” and just about 3 weeks ago “First U.S. American Judo Brown Belt And 26th U.S. President“, remember?
Well, today I would like to honor a gentleman who was truly a trailblazer. He is considered the “Father of American Karate”.
His name: Robert Trias.
While stationed on the British Solomon Islands in 1942 (and remember that these were truly world-changing times after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941), U.S. Navy serviceman and middleweight boxing champion Robert Trias was getting ready for an upcoming boxing match.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe in coincidences anymore.
Why do I say that?
While preparing for his match, Rober Trias made the acquaintance of a Chinese missionary on the island.
The missionary just happened to be a master in Hsing-Yi, which Trias wasn’t aware of.
Well, anyway, the missionary, Master T’ung Geee Hsing offered Trias Hsing-Yi lessons in exchange for some boxing.
But according to reports, at first Trias wasn’t very inclined or better, was more pissed off by this dude ruining his concentration during his training.
Finally, he gave in to the missionary’s request with the intention to teach him a lesson the boxing ring.
But things didn’t go according to plan, because Trias didn’t land one punch!
This was a turning point in the life and fighting career of Robert Trias, because from then on he would pursue Master Hsing’s art and thus Karate would become his life.
After being transferred to Singapore, Mr. Trias continued his martial arts training with a different instructor who had been taught Kempo Ju-Jitsu in Japan by Master Fukuda.
The electic style that Grandmaster Trias would later develop is known as Shorei-Goju Ryu, Shorei-ryu and Shuri-ryu and many organizations claim to trace their roots to him and the USKA.
The shorei-ryu system is a blend of the Chinese arts of mo-kempo and pakua and the ancient Okinawan art of Naha-te. It is a style which is noted for its low stances, powerful moves and circular motions.
After returning from his military service in the Pacific Theater during WWII, Grandmaster Robert Trias founded his school in 1946 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Through his pioneering efforts in Karate, Grandmaster Robert Trias became the United States’ liaison with Korea, Japan, China, and Okinawa for many years.
He was instrumental in promoting the first world karate tournament in 1963 in Chicago.
His rules for tournament competition are still used today with slight variation.
Trias died in 1989 of cancer leaving the Shuri-ryu system to his daughter Roberta Trias-Kelley (10th Dan), inheritor of Shuri-Ryu and Menkyo Kaiden.
Robert A. Trias is the author of “Karate is my Life”"The Hand is my Sword”, “The Pinnacle of Karate”, “The Supreme Way”, and “Render Yourself Empty”.
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