(I had already gained some familiarity with kung fu through my visits to the local Ipoh cinema from where I would emerge punching, kicking, and slashing and stabbing the air with my bicycle pump, much to the delight of the onlookers. I replied I didn’t mind, and—you guessed it—I kicked him straight in the leg; and when he tried to get up and come towards me, I kicked him again. He smiled and then took me through the etiquette required of the dojo, then handed me over to a third dan who spoke good English.
It later transpired he also had a fractured cheek bone.Not that he was the first professional boxer I’d fought, the first being when I was a boy soldier at Harrogate. Indeed, the article written by Bey Logan for However, the response to the article, like the seminars I conducted, was lukewarm. I refused; he tried again, and again I refused. Perhaps it has something to do with their willingness, like real warriors, to put their lives on the line in the figurative sense, repeatedly and in open competition, and not only run the risk of defeat but, win or lose, the inevitable injuries that come with reality-based fighting.Pretend warriors, on the other hand, are never prepared to put their reputations on the line in open competitions, let alone run the risk of serious injury. I wonder why.Mr. I was totally committed to my course of action.The morning of the test, I made my way to the Honbu dojo, got changed, and entered the training area. Nothing ever came of the incident, as apparently his story was that he had been beaten up whilst down in the town. It’s just that they could fight better if they had proven fighting and training methods so as to acquire that necessary mindset, level of physical conditioning and fundamental skills and key moves, etc., to fight with.As I often remind those who train with me, you can have the balls/attitude and self-belief to attempt to get on and ride a rank stallion, but unless you have the necessary mindset, physical conditioning and controls on the ground and in the saddle, you are never going to even get close enough to put the bridle on without getting the shit kicked out of you, let alone mount, stay on board and take him through his transitions.Over my many years of involvement with the martial arts, particuarly at Earlham Street and the Horsham gymnasium, in straight fights, challenge matches and more intellectual matches, I have comprehensively defeated a great many quasi-martial artists—so many, indeed, that I’ve lost count.
Of course I am.
Practice is essentially about, within a realistic combative environment (actual or replicated) learning how to avoid making mistakes and being punished for them and punishing others for their mistakes while anticipating how they might attempt to prevent you from doing so.You have to be willing to lose in order to learn how to eventually win. Indeed it has been the fights in my life that have often defined me, including the one I had with Ian Buckley, at the time my best friend, but by the end of the fight, my worst enemy. In every competition I ever entered I was disqualified for excessive contact, including the one in Holland against Jon Bluming’s team. I still somehow managed to break my attacker’s arm.I suppose the beatings I received as a child have somehow conditioned me to take a beating without panicking and remain focused on what might happen next and what I have to do to deal with it. Timmy Boy Man on a Mission. Grades are fixed if you have enough money and in particular if you are a foreigner. Board index ‹ the rum soaked fist ‹ Xingyiquan - Baguazhang - Taijiquan; Change font size; Print view; FAQ; Register; Login; Steve Morris on Xing Yi theory.