I finished reading this book and it is tremendous. I have been reading about Bruce Lee for 50 years and this is one of my all time favorites. John Little's best book so far. KFG #1!
I been reading the book myself, I'm on page 172. from my end of 172 pages, these stories had been told before. specially on films. for one, dragon the Bruce Lee story where the cook at ruby chow restaurant pulled a knife at Bruce. the ferry fight is another and the Joe Lewis sparring, this Bruce - Lewis sparring was not a fight but of sparring. the great thing about the book, it goes more into details in how the fight start it.
The combination of Alex and John is always pure gold, but this podcast discussion has convinced me to buy 2 copies of John's book. I love the shout out to the late, great Louis Delgado who is frequently left out of the discussion of successful point fighters who trained with Bruce Lee at his home in Culver City. Louis was the last point fighter to defeat Chuck Norris, and he was the ONLY member of the Big 4 (e.g., Lewis, Norris, Stone, and Delgado) who admitted to sparring with Bruce when the Little Dragon was alive. Lewis/Stone denied ever sparring with Bruce (e.g., both claimed they worked on "sparring drills" that included the lead hand strike and bridging the gap) and after 20 years of denials, Norris finally admitted that he sparred with Bruce on a number of occasions at Lee's home.
I bought the book for myself and a friend. We have been martial arts comrades and Bruce Lee fans since the 1970s. It’s the best book on Lee since Matt Polly’s biography.
A friend of mine who had Joe Lewis in for one of his "I trained with Bruce Lee" seminars told me that his rhythm and timing was so confusing he was untouchable, and that he said he learned that from Bruce Lee. Unfortunately, my friend said from the look of Lewis's eye's, that perhaps he and Bruce had both been exchanging letters with Bob Baker.
There was a fall out between Bruce and Joe when Joe’s wife accused Bruce flirting on her. And Joe is known to be a jerk with a very huge ego. He flip flopped on Bruce’s fighting ability. At one point ( BL haters point this out ) Joe said Bruce is no fighter, then in another occasion, Joe said Bruce was the best martial artist that stood in front of him.
@@eddiegee2940That's the reason Joe also missed out on the lead role opposite Bruce in Return Of The Dragon which went to Chuck. Joe made a few films but never on the caliber of Bruce's films and quality and had to settle for magazine features and the seminar circuits in order to make a living.
This story is difficult to verify as Bruce’s original treatment for Way of the Dragon (no one has called it Return of the Dragon since 1995) called for two Japanese fighters. The idea of having white guys (Chuck and Bob) was a late script change and the incident with Bruce and Joe was almost two years old. Doubtful Bruce would have considered Joe at all.
@@TheKungFuGenius I'm going by Matthew Polly's account in which he writes Bruce held high regard for Mike Stone, Chuck, and Joe. Mike having a big ego didn't care to be associated with Bruce as a student. After Joe's accusation of Bruce and Bruce's journal notes to end their friendship, Bruce decided to add Chuck to WOTD perhaps as a way of getting back at Joe, in my opinion.
Jesse: 1000 chain punches at the beginning and 1000 at end."Why did you stop?" "My arms are tired." 'Hmmm" "Ok i'll continue" lol You can just feel the love in Jesse's book. No matter what had passed between the two, Jesse still had a deep love in his heart for Bruce.
Probably the Fuckingest episode of the KFG! Great stories from JL once again, well suited for this channel. I hope he comes on again I could listen for hours.
After watching it again: Since many people to this day claim Lewis was Lee's first choice to be Colt in "Way/Return of the Dragon", listen what John says here about his interview with Lewis: Little: "What was the last thing Bruce ever said to you?" Lewis: "He called me a punk." You dont need to be a rocket scientist to ask yourself why did he called him a punk? A) Because Joe refused to be Colt B) Because of the incident when Joe confronted Bruce about Joe's girl I think B makes much more sense for such a statement. I dont think Bruce would have called anyone a punk if he doesnt want to be in his movie. And this just underlines Bruce never called up Joe in 1972 for being Colt. So Matt Polly's conclusion about this seems like confirmed here.
Joe Lewis wasn’t even in consideration - Bruce’s original notes for WOTD was to have two Japanese fighters as his final villains. They were to be played by Lam Ching Ying and Chen Sing.
talks about the day Bruce Lee visited the Dominican Republic with John Rhee. He even had sparring sessions with many martial artists from that country. Greetings from Argentina.
Hi Alex. Something to add (to the book): I give you Little's account from a new podcast about the subject Lee vs Muhammad Ali. He wrote that chapter for his Wrath of the Dragon book (maybe you know the chapter already), but in the end took it out since it was not about a sparring or fight, only about rumors. Here: „The first time the notion of what would have happened had Bruce Lee duked it out with Muhammad Ali appeared in Linda [Lee-Cadwell]s first book, entitled „The Life and tragic Death of Bruce Lee“, published in England in 1975. In that book Linda presented the following statement: „One critic wrote those who watched him would bet on Lee to render Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) sensless if they were put in a room and told that anything goes.“ It’s true that Linda is quoting a reporter’s opinion in this passage, but 76 pages later in that same book, Linda writes, not quoting anybody, „it has often being argued that if Bruce were locked in a room with Muhammad, and both were allowed to fight in their usual styles, then Bruce was bound to have been the winner.“ Both of these two statements make the same point. That Bruce Lee would have defeated Muhammad Ali had they fought for real. Linda didnt need to include these two sentiments in her book, but the fact remains that she did. The question is if Lee didnt believe this to be the case, then why did she seek out the first quote above and then add a second one of her own? After all, Linda s book has no shortage of praise for martial artists of every stripe and discipline, each thestifying to her late husband’s martial prowess, and she could have left it at that. Clearly the reporter s quote appeard in Linda s book for a reason, and the reason was as her seconding of the reporer sentiment indicates that she, as the representative of Bruce Lee, concurred with the opinion he expressed. But what did Bruce Lee himself said about the matter? Did anyone get a quote directly from him? One man attemted, the Hong Kong journalist John Hardy, who in November 1971 interviewed Lee in an article for the Hong Kong Star Newspaper. Hardy: „How did he fancy himself in the ring against Cassius Clay? Said Mr Lee: Lee: „If you put on a glove, you are dealing with rules. You must now the rules to survive. But in the street you have more tools in your favor, the kick, the throw, the punch.“ Lee clearly had no interest in fighting Ali in a boxing ring, as that would have required him to leave the majority of his weapons behind. His answer suggests that in the street, the advantave and thus the chances of winning, would fall to the man who brought the most weapons to the fight. As Lee with an arsenal of kicks, throws and punches, would have had more weapons than Ali, who only had his two fists. The reader is free to connect the dots here. As this quote of Lee was published two years prior to his death, and there is no eveidence, such as a letter to the editor to suggest that he believed he was misquoted in the matter, then this quote can stand as indicating Lee s opinion on how he believed he would have fared against Ali. It is also, and this is imprtant to note, the only quote attributed to Lee on the matter [him fighting Ali] that was published during his lifetime. (all others, like „my small chinese hands, Ali would kill me“ by Robert Clouse, or Bolo Yeung, or John Saxon, were published after his death). And then there was an other fellow named Bob Bremer, who was one of Lee’s students, who said: Bremer: „Yes I heard it from Bruce’s own mouth“. Lee: „If we were in the street, i would beat the cr..ap out of him [Ali]. But in the ring, not so good.“ Bremer: „He [Bruce] believed it, and i believed it.“ Little: „I do know that he had gone out for dinner with Senator John Tunney, who was the son Gene Tunney, who defeated Jack Dempsey, the famous long count fight, heavyweight championship fight. And John Tunney asked Bruce: „You know what do you think of my dad? You know anything about my dad Gene Tunney? And Bruce said: „Yeah. I dont just know him, i have two books about him.“ John Tunney: „Cool. How do you think you would have done against my dad?“ Lee: „Well, if i stood there and he hit me, forget it. But the question is could he ever get close to me?“ John Tunney: „So you think you could beat him?“ Lee: „To tell you the truth, i could beat anyone in the world [in a street fight].“ Little: „Ali was big and and strong, and Bruce was smart enough to recognize that if you went into Ali s backyard, a boxing ring, and there were rules, he would be a smudge. But on the street it’s something else. Here is an other interesting thing that speaks to that for anyone who says: „Well, Ali in the street would have done something to Lee.“: Ali studied a little bit Taekwondo for a short time under Jhoongoo „Jhoon“ Rhee, and Jhoon was a friend of Bruce. And Jhoon often said: Rhee: „Sparring Bruce was a waste of time, because I couldnt get out of the first gear, and Bruce taught me this punch, which was so fast and so direct, that I couldnt, there is nothing i couldnt get out of the way of it, I couldnt bock it, and I asked him to show it to me and he did. And i shared it with Ali, and it was called „the accu punch“ Ali called it.“ Little: „And Jhoon Rhee said the same, Ali couldnt block it, and Rhee was able to hit Ali with it, and Ali was so impressed with it, that he used it in one of his fights (against Richard Dunn), and i think he knocked the guy out with it. But here is the thing: Jhoon Rhee was not as fast as Bruce Lee, he did not hit as hard as Bruce Lee, and he was able to hit Muhammad Ali. So could Bruce have hit Ali? Yes. Could he have hit harder as Jhoon Rhee? Yes. Was Bruce s technique in a real fight to bob and weave and throw jabs? No. It was to go for the eyes or the throat, or the lead shin. And if you take someone s eyes away, I mean Bruce‘ s closing speed was insane. He practised finger jabs like eye jabs repeatedly, like thousnds of repetitions, to geht the neural muscular pathways down, so he could do it effortlessly. So yeah, in a boxing ring, Ali all day. In the street, i think Lee is the favorite. PS: And this is from me (Chris): Of course the final line is J. Little s opinion. Nobody has to agree. But as you can read in the complete text, during Lee's lifetime, he only spoke one time about this subject in front of a journalist, and this was in November 1971. All these claims later by Robert Clouse, Bolo Yeung, John Saxon etc., among the quotes is the famous "look my small hands, Ali would kill me", were published after Lee was gone. Same of course with the quote of his student Bob Bremer, that Lee told him he would beat the cr..ap out of Ali in a street fight. You can find the whole podcast (John Little Randy Roach)
I am far less interested in this “debate” than you might think. The whole “whose dad can beat up whom” is not very interesting to me. Also, in terms of logic and truth finding, even if Bruce Lee himself did believe (or say) that he could beat Ali, that doesn’t in fact make it true. Bruce Lee doesn’t have to be invincible or be able to beat the most legendary heavyweight boxer of all time for me to still be his fan, and to respect his work and his mind. This zero sum game that fans of Bruce Lee must also believe he was somehow invincible is really tiring because I don’t support this belief, but I get dragged into these ridiculous conversations by people with a misunderstanding of physics. This almost always comes from those with the least amount of actual martial arts training.
Hey KFG, I listen to your podcasts off and on, but the last time I've heard you mention Steve Golden was an interview you and Big Sean had with him. I probably just missed it, but I'd love to hear more about Steve. I had the good fortune to meet him at a few seminars that my teacher Robert Suttles put together, and we would always pester him for Bruce stories. He always acted hurt that we never asked for Steve Golden stories, but he was the nicest and most self-deprecating, humble guy. And about 25 years ago, he hit me harder than anyone has ever hit me, and I don't think he was even trying.
Great interview. I am honored to have been part of this historic event. Alex you are the man. and the flow between you and John is so attention grabbing I lost all sense of time. Genius!!
Thanks for this episode KFG. My favorite John Little book is still "The Art of Expressing the Human Body." I just ordered this new book from him on Amazon and I can't wait to dig into it.
I waited several days to listen to this episode to enhance the build up, and it was worth it!!! ~I listened to the podcast version over the past few days whenever in my car. Thank you Mr. Little and Sifu Alex for all you do to keep Bruce's beautiful legacy alive and well. Thank you both for loving #Martialarts #BruceLee, and sharing your talents in varied ways! This was the first time I'd heard John talk, although I've read a couple of his books, so it was a real treat. And I just ordered 2 copies of the Wrath book via alibris.
For the readers of the book: Maybe interesting for the one or the other, but i like to mention something about Lee’s punching speed and the timer which John mentions: „Curious as to the actual speed of Bruce’s punch, Jesse had a friend, Gary Barhnhard, an electronics student, devise a means of testing it. He created an electric timer. He wired one end into a light switch and the other into a cutoff switch attached to the back of a small pad. The timer started the instant the light was turned off. It stopped when somebody hit the pad. Jesse would kill the the light, and Bruce would hit the target. Jesse and Gary told Bruce to strike the pad from varying distances and, after each hit, they recorded the data from the timer. From five feet or one and a half meters away, his time was eight one-hundreths of a second (0.08 seconds). From three feet or one meter away, his reaction time was a mere five one-hundreths of a second (0.05 seconds).“ This quote on page 61 of the book leads the reader to believe he could react + punch in 5 and 8 one-hundreths of a second. But this wasnt the case. I contacted James DeMile in October 2012, and i did ask him if these times were punching + reaction, or only punching. His reply was: „It was motion, not reaction. Bruce would punch a pad which had the stop switch inside.“ You can find two video’s on YT when the late Sijo DeMile spoke about it: A) Bruce Lee: How He Achieved Phenomenal Speed B) James DeMile Combat Reaction Timer In the video A you see how this motion timer worked. And that’s the thing they measrued Bruce’s speed. It’s only punching, and not punching + reaction. When you read the description in John’s WOTD book or how Jesse Glover described it in his book, since they both used the term "reaction", the reader could come to the conclusion they used a reaction timer like shown in video B, which shows reaction + punching.
Just finished reading the book and I loved it. Also loved the back stories to some of his opponents/challengers. This is a book that I too have been waiting for years and wondered if it were ever get written. Question for the next time you have John little back on. Did he leave some fights out of the book because he couldn't confirm them?
Awesome Episode, all this information is priceless. Thank You John Little for this book and thank you Sifu Alex Richter for posting this. All the best to you my friend.
Great book and great read. Although I was familiar with a lot of the fights with reading over the years it was great to get more context and verification. AlwAys liked Johns work and hope he’s a guest of yours again soon. Great stuff
The main "source" for me about Bruce Lees real abilities come from Dan Inosanto and Taky Kimura. If you know these 2 great men you know they arent one to lie. Taky is one of the most humble people I've ever known and Ive been fortunate enough to hear tons of first hand accounts about Bruce. Dan has really been around world class martial artists and fighters and Dan still holds Bruce abilities in high regard.
Finally got one of John’s books, this one had to be interesting, I wasn’t wrong. John has done the best fact checking and research and the book is 5 star. Thanks Genius, great interview. I’m 72 years old , one of Bruce’s biggest fans. Read a lot on Bruce.
What a small world. I attended one of Joe Lewis' seminars in 1986 which was hosted in Georgia by a karate guy named Charles Henry. Charles had featured Francis Fong seminars twice already and at some point he brought in Joe Lewis. This was a footwork seminar. No hand or kicking techniques. I do distinctly remember him saying that Bruce Lee was bad at sparring. I took it with a grain.
I’ll be picking up the book on Tuesday, hopefully. Another great interview and glad you’re previous episode was the catalyst for this book being written. Its the book we’ve always wanted!
Linda Lee needs to talk about the joe lewis knocking on the screen door, questioning if bruce made a pass at his girlfriend. Need to hear her exact recollection
KFG Awesome interview with John Little ! As usual you did it again shining light on Bruce Lee like you always do . Did you ever think of doing a show on Jim Kelly ? And with his association with Bruce ? In one of his interviews he stated he knows who Bruce sparred with and won , but he would not say names out of respect to the fighters . He also said that he would put all this info in his book , but sadly he passed away before he written a book . Jim Kelly had nothing but positive remarks about Bruce .
WOWWWW .. I wish they had smartphones back then .. I would love to see Bruce Lee playing with Ryan Oneal .. Bruce went light on this guy , Imagine in an all out fight full blast .. Forget about it !!! Great episode .. I enjoy your video. Thanks Alex.. I just received my book in the mail !!!
Alex one of your best podcasts to date (outside of the one we did LOL) . John Little is a Legend! His book is phenomenal and really enjoyed the episode! To all the Nay Sayers out there - BRUCE LEE WAS THE REAL DEAL!!! Keep up the good work and talk soon!
Great podcast as always! Nice to see you chatting with John Little again. The book looks amazing and I can not wait to read it for myself. I was wondering, would you be able to do a list all time recommended books on Bruce Lee. I know over the past year you've named a couple like the JKD companion book, the book that lays out bruce lee's death, etc. It'd be cool to have you compile them all together in one video. Shout out to Dre, Mikey, Andrew. Peace
I watched a podcast by Steve Crowder ,called" louder with Crowder" which was quite disrespectful to Bruce Lee, and Chael Sonnen,doing the same. People are entitled to their opinion,but show a bit respect to what Bruce had done. I think they simply just didn't like Bruce. Yet Bruce was the real deal. On the flip side,Luis Delgado,the last man to beat Chuck Norris,was very complimentary towards Bruce. Jhoon Rhee, who taught Muhammad Ali the AccuPunch,was a thing Jhoon had learned from Bruce. Ali used it to Knock out Richard Dunn back in 1976. It's was Ali's last greatest knock out. I guess Ali was taught by Bruce,by association. These are only a few stories about Bruce being the real deal. Another great podcast, Alex, with the brilliant John Little.. Your show just seems to go,from strength to strength. All the best from Bonnie Scotland.
Good thing to mention the "Accupunch" and Ali's KO of Dunn. Ali himself said Rhee prepared him for Inoki, and he taught him the Accupunch. And Rhee admitted he learned that punch from Lee. So basically Ali KOed an opponenet with a punch that came from Lee to Rhee.
I began reading the book recently and I often check the footnotes. Some info in this book is from John's interview's with ppl who witnessed Bruce Lee's fights. Does John still have audio recordings of these interviews?
He seems pretty knowledgeable about Bruce for not knowing him personally Bruce would probably have to be one of the hardest people to do research on because there's so much out there figuring out whats true and what isn't and what's overly exaggerated, pretty good interview.
Fantastic interview by both of you! It was great to hear stories around the events in the book! Not spoiling the book and adding so much more to it! Looking forward to a great read that will take us though different times and places in Bruce Lee’s history as only a passionate writer and researcher can do.
... dynamite episode- love it when you have John Little on- cannae wait to get this book! your podcast is so enjoyable, cheers for all your efforts- sending gibvibes & all the very best fae sunny glesga...
thank you for bringing in this and for the interview, Bruce was more than a fighter, he was an intellectual martial artist who combined beteween philosophy and martial arts and science, Bruce still to this day beyond and ahead of all the fighters that you would see in the MMA arena
I believe Mr. Little when he said he was training everyday like Bruce. But, did he trained 16-18 hours daily as stated by the official Bruce Lee biographer known as Beardy? 🤔
_Weirdy Beerdy_ is doing it all wrong. Sleep is for pussies! Bruce Lee was training in his sleep. Sleepwalking? Nah, The Dragon was Sleepfighting most nights.
I've seen a number of videos that Beerdy has done and to be honest with you, much of what he talks about is not true and pretty much made up just for the sake of trying to produce content for his channel.
I can’t believe this interview hasn’t hit a million views yet , especially when you see some of the crap spoken about Bruce lee on TH-cam ‘breedy lol ‘ , great interview Alex
Very interesting interview! When you have the possibility to speak to John again, it would be very cool, if you ask him about Howard Williams. He was the youngest student under Bruce and James Lee at the oakland school. Reffered as rugget by Bruce himself, he was a though guy with power and speed in his hands and feet, and praised by James who tell him he had the natural attributes Bruce train for a long time to gain. He was also able to kick that hydraulic kicking aparatus of Bruce with reletively equal force of Bruce, which no one else could. In his later years he teach in Oakland Jeet Kune Do (power punching and kicking, non-telegraphing movement, attacking from neutral position etc.) According to Ted Wong and Bob Baker he was the most dedicaded one, who should teach JKD to the newer generation further. Unfortunatly you can't find much information about him out there. Just a few online pages, a few short online videos and one longer interview from the mid 1990s (a wonderful peace of an interview and a recomendation to all who are interested in Bruce and his Jeet Kune Do). I think he deserves more attention, even though he is dead for quite a while. And people who knew should talk about him.
Yeah, the way I've heard Howard described is Bruce's attributes in a bigger package; and he started in high school so, like Ted Wong, I believe his first and only art was JKD. I had an acting friend from the East Bay whom I met doing theatre down on the Central Coast and who was into fencing, so when I mentioned Bruce Lee's connection to that art he went bonkers researching him and, when he found out one of his top students was still living and teaching in Oakland, called him up and signed up for classes when he got back home. He said Mr. Williams one-inch punch was harder than anyone could kick and described him as having "poison hands," meaning even if you blocked his hit, it would probably break something. Oh, and when they were working with a baseball bat, nobody wanted to attack Howard; not because because they might hurt him but because he might hurt THEM, lol. Finally, during sparring, one of the students nailed another one good-like the poor guy's teeth were loose afterwards and Howard examined them and went, "Yeah, those'll tighten back up in a few days," lol-and Howard's reaction was, "Ooooo…if you had hit Bruce like that I'd have feared for your life!" Of course, everyone went, "Wait…Bruce got HIT?" to which Howard went, "Yeah, and you did NOT wanna be the one who did it 'cause Bruce only got hit if he WANTED to get hit." "Why would he do that?" they asked. "So he'd have an excuse to open up on you." Apparently, the wrath of the Dragon wasn't always deserved, lol.
Hi. KFG. I am enjoying your podcast. Did you get to do the PART 2 OF ALEX BEN BLOCK interview? Also do you know why Bruce Lee initially named the movie 'the way of the dragon' the enter the dragon? Thanks.
Did you ever interview. Peter chin. Just wrote a.book about bruce peter.lives in las Vegas where i live he is such a great guy and has many great stories. Hes a.good friend of mine love the stories much respect.
It would be great if John Little would have interviewed Ryan O'Neal on that sparring session with Bruce. Years ago, I read a different account of that, that Ryan was punching the bag, and Bruce told him he was good, but that here's what's missing from boxing, and he showed him kicks on the bag, or he had Ryan hold the shield while he kicked it. Been many years since I read it. It implied that they were friends.
thank you alex and john, great to hear you both here together again. also you mention tom bleecker, love to see you talk to mr. bleecker..btw, my wife is ordering your new book right now,,and i am in the final chapters of his,,unsettled matters. brilliant subject.the real fights of bruce lee,,,, bruce was often the subject of my original fine art paintings,, some of which hang in homes all over the world, not to bore you, only to show how hugely popular bruce was 20 years after his death. cheers , ciao and love from a former self taught bruce lee martial artist... robert in italy. ps, question, i took my 6 year old son to see dragon in 1992, he loved it, but i thought , it was bullshite, did you kung fu genius see dragon, and did you enjoy it.
I guess the book will talk about the time Bruce drop kicked MIke Tyson at Venice Beach. I think there is a video out there of it that someone filmed on their iPhone.
Fascinating episode! Great stories that got better and better as the interview unfolded. Good stuff! I ordered the book using the above link. I also found the Jessie Glover book discussed in the interview on Amazon- Is this legit, the real McCoy? Wonderful interview.
I have a signed copy of Jesse's book BWCAJKD. I think I got it in 1977 or so directly from Jesse. I already had a copy I bought in a Norfolk bookstore but it was missing a page.
Its very interesting reading this book . I grew up in the 70s and there was this idea that Bruce Lee is the greatest martial artist of all and then it was forgotten like a childhood legend of a cyclops or a unicorn because weve grown up and then John Little does some research and discovers a cyclops or a Unicorn skeleton and does DNA analysis to show that it actually exists. !
With Linda Lee's biography, "Bruce Lee, The Man Only I Knew," weren't there 2 versions of that biography? It seems like I remember one was more raw and truthful, while the second version came along later and was slightly more edited to reflect Bruce more positively. Am I remembering this correctly? I ask because I'm trying to finish out my collection with both John Little and Jesse Glover's books on Bruce. (And eventually Marcos Ocaña Rizo).
Bruce walked the walk. He lived his martial arts, and everybody who knew him seems to have come to same consensus. It should be easy for a true martial artist or athlete to see that Bruce was the real deal. You just can fake the stuff that Bruce WAS
We made a thread on this on Drunken Master’s Bruce Lee forum back in the day. We ended up with a little collection across different sources, but hardly enough for a full book unless you really stretch the material. Well, anyway according to the Bruce Lee Real Fight channel which is of course the pinnacle of scientific studies on this planet, Bruce was undefeated in his films. So there’s that 🤣
There is a letter that Joe Lewis sent to Black Belt magazine... in which he even said " had I challenged Bruce lee , I can assure you , he would have accepted immediately " I am sure you read that letter Mr Richter I met Joe Lewis and even in old age he looked like a big bad ass solid dude
I attended a seminar of his when he was old a few years before his death and I clearly saw that he had a love hate relationship with Bruce ….I can go on and on but I did see that first hand . ( bad ass solid looking old man he was lol )
I've been listening to a Chris Reeve autobiography. Is there a detailed story on how Bruce Lee recovered from his back injury? That would be another great story to really hear how the play by play went and maybe a book of that specific time in Bruce's life.
I have very often wondered that and that is an excellent question. I used to assume he did tons of acupuncture and maybe some kind of mind over matter, self healing, however, sadly, aside from some self applied physical therapy type stuff, it has come out, on this channel that Bruce took a lot of painkillers, hashish and in his last year, was using cocaine too. So, some form of ingested substances played a role in his pain management because his own self rehab only fixed it to a degree I hope KFG replies, but I think he'll say something similar to me
@@axelstone3131 Yes, agreed. Probably the self rehab and then the unresolved stuff, it seems he pushed through with painkillers and drugs, unfortunately. The thing that has to be clarified is that he never fully healed, even with the self rehab because it was always stated that he fought pain on the set of Enter the Dragon, so that is where to drugs came in....pain killers, hash and then finally cocaine.
@@axelstone3131 почему Брюс Ли не снимал бои к фильму ,, игра смерти,, после завершения ,, выход дракона,, ? Правда ли , что он сильно болел в последний месяц жизни ?
@@axelstone3131 Бэтти тинг Пэй из семьи потомственных докторов. Почему же Бэтти не захотела вызвать скорую помощь? Почему Рэймонд Чоу не посоветовал ей вызвать скорую помощь? Странная история.
Get John Little's new book "Wrath of the Dragon" on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Wrath-Dragon-Real-Fights-Bruce/dp/1770417427
I received the book last week through Amazon and it is great!
attachment.tapatalk-cdn.com/45979/202312/3293956_e91f7ab5b3533648f46e3558a9bb0ebd.jpg
Great Book I love Bruce Lee Books! John Little is Great!!!!
Apologies for the grammar typo
Bruce Lee's quote in Long Street...'' I found the cause of my ignorance''. Another awesome podcast with John Little! RIP Jesse🙏💯❤👍
I finished reading this book and it is tremendous. I have been reading about Bruce Lee for 50 years and this is one of my all time favorites. John Little's best book so far. KFG #1!
I been reading the book myself, I'm on page 172. from my end of 172 pages, these stories had been told before. specially on films. for one, dragon the Bruce Lee story where the cook at ruby chow restaurant pulled a knife at Bruce. the ferry fight is another and the Joe Lewis sparring, this Bruce - Lewis sparring was not a fight but of sparring. the great thing about the book, it goes more into details in how the fight start it.
The combination of Alex and John is always pure gold, but this podcast discussion has convinced me to buy 2 copies of John's book. I love the shout out to the late, great Louis Delgado who is frequently left out of the discussion of successful point fighters who trained with Bruce Lee at his home in Culver City. Louis was the last point fighter to defeat Chuck Norris, and he was the ONLY member of the Big 4 (e.g., Lewis, Norris, Stone, and Delgado) who admitted to sparring with Bruce when the Little Dragon was alive. Lewis/Stone denied ever sparring with Bruce (e.g., both claimed they worked on "sparring drills" that included the lead hand strike and bridging the gap) and after 20 years of denials, Norris finally admitted that he sparred with Bruce on a number of occasions at Lee's home.
I’m listening to this video for the second time, Bruce’s intellectual level, artistic expression and skills were unbelievable, the MAN was a real deal
I bought the book for myself and a friend. We have been martial arts comrades and Bruce Lee fans since the 1970s. It’s the best book on Lee since Matt Polly’s biography.
A friend of mine who had Joe Lewis in for one of his "I trained with Bruce Lee" seminars told me that his rhythm and timing was so confusing he was untouchable, and that he said he learned that from Bruce Lee. Unfortunately, my friend said from the look of Lewis's eye's, that perhaps he and Bruce had both been exchanging letters with Bob Baker.
There was a fall out between Bruce and Joe when Joe’s wife accused Bruce flirting on her. And Joe is known to be a jerk with a very huge ego. He flip flopped on Bruce’s fighting ability. At one point ( BL haters point this out ) Joe said Bruce is no fighter, then in another occasion, Joe said Bruce was the best martial artist that stood in front of him.
Очень мало информации про боб Бейкер. Он играл в кино с Брюс Ли, но не давал интервью ?
@@eddiegee2940That's the reason Joe also missed out on the lead role opposite Bruce in Return Of The Dragon which went to Chuck. Joe made a few films but never on the caliber of Bruce's films and quality and had to settle for magazine features and the seminar circuits in order to make a living.
This story is difficult to verify as Bruce’s original treatment for Way of the Dragon (no one has called it Return of the Dragon since 1995) called for two Japanese fighters. The idea of having white guys (Chuck and Bob) was a late script change and the incident with Bruce and Joe was almost two years old. Doubtful Bruce would have considered Joe at all.
@@TheKungFuGenius I'm going by Matthew Polly's account in which he writes Bruce held high regard for Mike Stone, Chuck, and Joe. Mike having a big ego didn't care to be associated with Bruce as a student. After Joe's accusation of Bruce and Bruce's journal notes to end their friendship, Bruce decided to add Chuck to WOTD perhaps as a way of getting back at Joe, in my opinion.
Jesse: 1000 chain punches at the beginning and 1000 at end."Why did you stop?" "My arms are tired." 'Hmmm" "Ok i'll continue" lol
You can just feel the love in Jesse's book. No matter what had passed between the two, Jesse still had a deep love in his heart for Bruce.
@jpssteveshanahan9572Jesse was not a pallbearer for Bruce Lee.....
Probably the Fuckingest episode of the KFG!
Great stories from JL once again, well suited for this channel. I hope he comes on again I could listen for hours.
After watching it again: Since many people to this day claim Lewis was Lee's first choice to be Colt in "Way/Return of the Dragon", listen what John says here about his interview with Lewis:
Little: "What was the last thing Bruce ever said to you?"
Lewis: "He called me a punk."
You dont need to be a rocket scientist to ask yourself why did he called him a punk?
A) Because Joe refused to be Colt
B) Because of the incident when Joe confronted Bruce about Joe's girl
I think B makes much more sense for such a statement. I dont think Bruce would have called anyone a punk if he doesnt want to be in his movie.
And this just underlines Bruce never called up Joe in 1972 for being Colt.
So Matt Polly's conclusion about this seems like confirmed here.
Joe Lewis wasn’t even in consideration - Bruce’s original notes for WOTD was to have two Japanese fighters as his final villains. They were to be played by Lam Ching Ying and Chen Sing.
What a treat this was! I always feast on everything John Little has to say. Thank you so much, Alex!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I usually don’t comment much on TH-cam videos, but I must say, this is a really great interview. Thanks for sharing, guys…
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@TheKungFuGenius Боло Янг ещё не давал вам интервью ?
Excellent interview always amazing to see John Little on the show, what a great honor to really see him on here
talks about the day Bruce Lee visited the Dominican Republic with John Rhee. He even had sparring sessions with many martial artists from that country. Greetings from Argentina.
Hi Alex. Something to add (to the book): I give you Little's account from a new podcast about the subject Lee vs Muhammad Ali. He wrote that chapter for his Wrath of the Dragon book (maybe you know the chapter already), but in the end took it out since it was not about a sparring or fight, only about rumors. Here:
„The first time the notion of what would have happened had Bruce Lee duked it out with Muhammad Ali appeared in Linda [Lee-Cadwell]s first book, entitled „The Life and tragic Death of Bruce Lee“, published in England in 1975.
In that book Linda presented the following statement:
„One critic wrote those who watched him would bet on Lee to render Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) sensless if they were put in a room and told that anything goes.“
It’s true that Linda is quoting a reporter’s opinion in this passage, but 76 pages later in that same book, Linda writes, not quoting anybody, „it has often being argued that if Bruce were locked in a room with Muhammad, and both were allowed to fight in their usual styles, then Bruce was bound to have been the winner.“
Both of these two statements make the same point. That Bruce Lee would have defeated Muhammad Ali had they fought for real. Linda didnt need to include these two sentiments in her book, but the fact remains that she did.
The question is if Lee didnt believe this to be the case, then why did she seek out the first quote above and then add a second one of her own? After all, Linda s book has no shortage of praise for martial artists of every stripe and discipline, each thestifying to her late husband’s martial prowess, and she could have left it at that.
Clearly the reporter s quote appeard in Linda s book for a reason, and the reason was as her seconding of the reporer sentiment indicates that she, as the representative of Bruce Lee, concurred with the opinion he expressed.
But what did Bruce Lee himself said about the matter?
Did anyone get a quote directly from him? One man attemted, the Hong Kong journalist John Hardy, who in November 1971 interviewed Lee in an article for the Hong Kong Star Newspaper.
Hardy: „How did he fancy himself in the ring against Cassius Clay? Said Mr Lee:
Lee: „If you put on a glove, you are dealing with rules. You must now the rules to survive. But in the street you have more tools in your favor, the kick, the throw, the punch.“
Lee clearly had no interest in fighting Ali in a boxing ring, as that would have required him to leave the majority of his weapons behind. His answer suggests that in the street, the advantave and thus the chances of winning, would fall to the man who brought the most weapons to the fight.
As Lee with an arsenal of kicks, throws and punches, would have had more weapons than Ali, who only had his two fists. The reader is free to connect the dots here.
As this quote of Lee was published two years prior to his death, and there is no eveidence, such as a letter to the editor to suggest that he believed he was misquoted in the matter, then this quote can stand as indicating Lee s opinion on how he believed he would have fared against Ali.
It is also, and this is imprtant to note, the only quote attributed to Lee on the matter [him fighting Ali] that was published during his lifetime. (all others, like „my small chinese hands, Ali would kill me“ by Robert Clouse, or Bolo Yeung, or John Saxon, were published after his death).
And then there was an other fellow named Bob Bremer, who was one of Lee’s students, who said:
Bremer: „Yes I heard it from Bruce’s own mouth“.
Lee: „If we were in the street, i would beat the cr..ap out of him [Ali]. But in the ring, not so good.“
Bremer: „He [Bruce] believed it, and i believed it.“
Little: „I do know that he had gone out for dinner with Senator John Tunney, who was the son Gene Tunney, who defeated Jack Dempsey, the famous long count fight, heavyweight championship fight.
And John Tunney asked Bruce: „You know what do you think of my dad? You know anything about my dad Gene Tunney? And Bruce said: „Yeah. I dont just know him, i have two books about him.“
John Tunney: „Cool. How do you think you would have done against my dad?“
Lee: „Well, if i stood there and he hit me, forget it. But the question is could he ever get close to me?“
John Tunney: „So you think you could beat him?“
Lee: „To tell you the truth, i could beat anyone in the world [in a street fight].“
Little:
„Ali was big and and strong, and Bruce was smart enough to recognize that if you went into Ali s backyard, a boxing ring, and there were rules, he would be a smudge. But on the street it’s something else.
Here is an other interesting thing that speaks to that for anyone who says: „Well, Ali in the street would have done something to Lee.“:
Ali studied a little bit Taekwondo for a short time under Jhoongoo „Jhoon“ Rhee, and Jhoon was a friend of Bruce. And Jhoon often said:
Rhee: „Sparring Bruce was a waste of time, because I couldnt get out of the first gear, and Bruce taught me this punch, which was so fast and so direct, that I couldnt, there is nothing i couldnt get out of the way of it, I couldnt bock it, and I asked him to show it to me and he did. And i shared it with Ali, and it was called „the accu punch“ Ali called it.“
Little:
„And Jhoon Rhee said the same, Ali couldnt block it, and Rhee was able to hit Ali with it, and Ali was so impressed with it, that he used it in one of his fights (against Richard Dunn), and i think he knocked the guy out with it.
But here is the thing:
Jhoon Rhee was not as fast as Bruce Lee, he did not hit as hard as Bruce Lee, and he was able to hit Muhammad Ali.
So could Bruce have hit Ali? Yes.
Could he have hit harder as Jhoon Rhee? Yes.
Was Bruce s technique in a real fight to bob and weave and throw jabs? No. It was to go for the eyes or the throat, or the lead shin.
And if you take someone s eyes away, I mean Bruce‘ s closing speed was insane. He practised finger jabs like eye jabs repeatedly, like thousnds of repetitions, to geht the neural muscular pathways down, so he could do it effortlessly.
So yeah, in a boxing ring, Ali all day. In the street, i think Lee is the favorite.
PS:
And this is from me (Chris): Of course the final line is J. Little s opinion. Nobody has to agree. But as you can read in the complete text, during Lee's lifetime, he only spoke one time about this subject in front of a journalist, and this was in November 1971.
All these claims later by Robert Clouse, Bolo Yeung, John Saxon etc., among the quotes is the famous "look my small hands, Ali would kill me", were published after Lee was gone. Same of course with the quote of his student Bob Bremer, that Lee told him he would beat the cr..ap out of Ali in a street fight.
You can find the whole podcast (John Little Randy Roach)
I am far less interested in this “debate” than you might think. The whole “whose dad can beat up whom” is not very interesting to me. Also, in terms of logic and truth finding, even if Bruce Lee himself did believe (or say) that he could beat Ali, that doesn’t in fact make it true. Bruce Lee doesn’t have to be invincible or be able to beat the most legendary heavyweight boxer of all time for me to still be his fan, and to respect his work and his mind. This zero sum game that fans of Bruce Lee must also believe he was somehow invincible is really tiring because I don’t support this belief, but I get dragged into these ridiculous conversations by people with a misunderstanding of physics. This almost always comes from those with the least amount of actual martial arts training.
Hey KFG, I listen to your podcasts off and on, but the last time I've heard you mention Steve Golden was an interview you and Big Sean had with him. I probably just missed it, but I'd love to hear more about Steve. I had the good fortune to meet him at a few seminars that my teacher Robert Suttles put together, and we would always pester him for Bruce stories. He always acted hurt that we never asked for Steve Golden stories, but he was the nicest and most self-deprecating, humble guy. And about 25 years ago, he hit me harder than anyone has ever hit me, and I don't think he was even trying.
Yes! The Steve Golden interview was on my old Dudes of Kung Fu podcast which is still available (but is audio only). I’m sure you can still find it!
Great interview. I am honored to have been part of this historic event. Alex you are the man. and the flow between you and John is so attention grabbing I lost all sense of time. Genius!!
Thanks for this episode KFG. My favorite John Little book is still "The Art of Expressing the Human Body." I just ordered this new book from him on Amazon and I can't wait to dig into it.
I waited several days to listen to this episode to enhance the build up, and it was worth it!!! ~I listened to the podcast version over the past few days whenever in my car.
Thank you Mr. Little and Sifu Alex for all you do to keep Bruce's beautiful legacy alive and well. Thank you both for loving #Martialarts #BruceLee, and sharing your talents in varied ways!
This was the first time I'd heard John talk, although I've read a couple of his books, so it was a real treat. And I just ordered 2 copies of the Wrath book via alibris.
So happy to hear this! Glad you enjoyed it!
For the readers of the book: Maybe interesting for the one or the other, but i like to mention something about Lee’s punching speed and the timer which John mentions:
„Curious as to the actual speed of Bruce’s punch, Jesse had a friend, Gary Barhnhard, an electronics student, devise a means of testing it. He created an electric timer. He wired one end into a light switch and the other into a cutoff switch attached to the back of a small pad. The timer started the instant the light was turned off. It stopped when somebody hit the pad.
Jesse would kill the the light, and Bruce would hit the target. Jesse and Gary told Bruce to strike the pad from varying distances and, after each hit, they recorded the data from the timer.
From five feet or one and a half meters away, his time was eight one-hundreths of a second (0.08 seconds). From three feet or one meter away, his reaction time was a mere five one-hundreths of a second (0.05 seconds).“
This quote on page 61 of the book leads the reader to believe he could react + punch in 5 and 8 one-hundreths of a second.
But this wasnt the case.
I contacted James DeMile in October 2012, and i did ask him if these times were punching + reaction, or only punching. His reply was:
„It was motion, not reaction. Bruce would punch a pad which had the stop switch inside.“
You can find two video’s on YT when the late Sijo DeMile spoke about it:
A) Bruce Lee: How He Achieved Phenomenal Speed
B) James DeMile Combat Reaction Timer
In the video A you see how this motion timer worked. And that’s the thing they measrued Bruce’s speed. It’s only punching, and not punching + reaction.
When you read the description in John’s WOTD book or how Jesse Glover described it in his book, since they both used the term "reaction", the reader could come to the conclusion they used a reaction timer like shown in video B, which shows reaction + punching.
Just finished reading the book and I loved it. Also loved the back stories to some of his opponents/challengers. This is a book that I too have been waiting for years and wondered if it were ever get written.
Question for the next time you have John little back on. Did he leave some fights out of the book because he couldn't confirm them?
Джон Литл всегда интересно слушать.
Awesome Episode, all this information is priceless. Thank You John Little for this book and thank you Sifu Alex Richter for posting this. All the best to you my friend.
Great book and great read. Although I was familiar with a lot of the fights with reading over the years it was great to get more context and verification. AlwAys liked Johns work and hope he’s a guest of yours again soon. Great stuff
The main "source" for me about Bruce Lees real abilities come from Dan Inosanto and Taky Kimura. If you know these 2 great men you know they arent one to lie. Taky is one of the most humble people I've ever known and Ive been fortunate enough to hear tons of first hand accounts about Bruce. Dan has really been around world class martial artists and fighters and Dan still holds Bruce abilities in high regard.
I think benny urquidez came close. Or rather I heard Dan inosanto rated benny highly.
@@axelstone3131guro dan sifu Larry hartsell both said benny the jet would give bruce one he'll of a fight
@@rickocconnell9056 yes he did benny is a legend
@@axelstone3131 а вы не забыли про Томми карутес?
Finally got one of John’s books, this one had to be interesting, I wasn’t wrong. John has done the best fact checking and research and the book is 5 star. Thanks Genius, great interview. I’m 72 years old , one of Bruce’s biggest fans. Read a lot on Bruce.
Glad you enjoyed the book!
Absolutely awesome interview! Very interesting indeed! Many, many thanks :)
Great interview! Thanks to John Little, and the KFG! 😎👊
Finally a book about the real Bruce Lee and his (REAL) fights .
What a small world. I attended one of Joe Lewis' seminars in 1986 which was hosted in Georgia by a karate guy named Charles Henry. Charles had featured Francis Fong seminars twice already and at some point he brought in Joe Lewis. This was a footwork seminar. No hand or kicking techniques. I do distinctly remember him saying that Bruce Lee was bad at sparring. I took it with a grain.
I’ll be picking up the book on Tuesday, hopefully. Another great interview and glad you’re previous episode was the catalyst for this book being written. Its the book we’ve always wanted!
Reading this book just now in Glasgow , Scotland .
I’m rereading it today as well!
Linda Lee needs to talk about the joe lewis knocking on the screen door, questioning if bruce made a pass at his girlfriend.
Need to hear her exact recollection
KFG Awesome interview with John Little ! As usual you did it again shining light on Bruce Lee like you always do . Did you ever think of doing a show on Jim Kelly ? And with his association with Bruce ? In one of his interviews he stated he knows who Bruce sparred with and won , but he would not say names out of respect to the fighters . He also said that he would put all this info in his book , but sadly he passed away before he written a book . Jim Kelly had nothing but positive remarks about Bruce .
Книгу Джим Келли было бы интересно почитать, но может есть книга Джеймс кобурн ? Он ведь занимался у Брюс Ли и Стивен Сигал?
Awesome Stay STRONG
My friend!!!!!🎶🎶🎶💥💯
WOWWWW .. I wish they had smartphones back then .. I would love to see Bruce Lee playing with Ryan Oneal .. Bruce went light on this guy , Imagine in an all out fight full blast .. Forget about it !!! Great episode .. I enjoy your video. Thanks Alex.. I just received my book in the mail !!!
Thank you!
Alex one of your best podcasts to date (outside of the one we did LOL) . John Little is a Legend! His book is phenomenal and really enjoyed the episode! To all the Nay Sayers out there - BRUCE LEE WAS THE REAL DEAL!!! Keep up the good work and talk soon!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@TheKungFuGenius 10K Subscribers coming soon! Congrats! Keep up the good work!
This Will be AWESOME!!!
Amazing talks u guys always have!
My book copy finally arrived. Thanks for another great podcast.
Excited for this book! I bought as soon as this interview started. Thanks!
Amazing interview, congrats!
Thanks so much!
Great podcast as always! Nice to see you chatting with John Little again. The book looks amazing and I can not wait to read it for myself. I was wondering, would you be able to do a list all time recommended books on Bruce Lee. I know over the past year you've named a couple like the JKD companion book, the book that lays out bruce lee's death, etc. It'd be cool to have you compile them all together in one video. Shout out to Dre, Mikey, Andrew. Peace
Great, great episode
Just ordered the audio book. The narration is great. I do with Little did the narration but it’s still great
I watched a podcast by Steve Crowder ,called" louder with Crowder" which was quite disrespectful to Bruce Lee, and Chael Sonnen,doing the same. People are entitled to their opinion,but show a bit respect to what Bruce had done. I think they simply just didn't like Bruce. Yet Bruce was the real deal. On the flip side,Luis Delgado,the last man to beat Chuck Norris,was very complimentary towards Bruce. Jhoon Rhee, who taught Muhammad Ali the AccuPunch,was a thing Jhoon had learned from Bruce. Ali used it to Knock out Richard Dunn back in 1976. It's was Ali's last greatest knock out. I guess Ali was taught by Bruce,by association. These are only a few stories about Bruce being the real deal. Another great podcast, Alex, with the brilliant John Little.. Your show just seems to go,from strength to strength. All the best from Bonnie Scotland.
Good thing to mention the "Accupunch" and Ali's KO of Dunn. Ali himself said Rhee prepared him for Inoki, and he taught him the Accupunch. And Rhee admitted he learned that punch from Lee.
So basically Ali KOed an opponenet with a punch that came from Lee to Rhee.
Thanks for the recommendations
I pre ordered it a while ago, and yes…. The Dragon can , and will fight. For Bruce, it’s flashback to the good old days in Hong Kong.
Btw, this book is also on Audible!
Thanks!
I got this book yesterday. Started reading it last night.👍🙏
Will get his book. Thanks so much.
My copy should be here Wednesday. Can't wait to give it a read.
And an other fun fact: Ryan O'Neal s daughter, Tatum O'Neal, was married with Tennis Legend "Big Mac" John McEnroe for a couple of years.
PS: Mr. O'Neal passed away today (Dec 8th, 2023). RiP!
I began reading the book recently and I often check the footnotes. Some info in this book is from John's interview's with ppl who witnessed Bruce Lee's fights. Does John still have audio recordings of these interviews?
Great interview going to pickup this book ✌🏼
Gotta get this Bruce Lee book ASAP!
He seems pretty knowledgeable about Bruce for not knowing him personally Bruce would probably have to be one of the hardest people to do research on because there's so much out there figuring out whats true and what isn't and what's overly exaggerated, pretty good interview.
А Том бликер на этом канале не выступал ? Он ведь написал 2 книги про Брюс Ли. Том был знаком с Брюс Ли.
Fantastic interview by both of you! It was great to hear stories around the events in the book! Not spoiling the book and adding so much more to it! Looking forward to a great read that will take us though different times and places in Bruce Lee’s history as only a passionate writer and researcher can do.
Про фильм ,, the final game of death,, рассказа не было ?
... dynamite episode- love it when you have John Little on- cannae wait to get this book! your podcast is so enjoyable, cheers for all your efforts- sending gibvibes & all the very best fae sunny glesga...
thank you for bringing in this and for the interview, Bruce was more than a fighter, he was an intellectual martial artist who combined beteween philosophy and martial arts and science, Bruce still to this day beyond and ahead of all the fighters that you would see in the MMA arena
These interviews are always great. I preordered the book earlier today.
Well done. Thank you for posting
Loved it from start till end.
Great book!
Omg I’ve been hoping you’d do another one. Funnily enough I also love Jesse’s book on Bruce. I have it on PDF only but it was brilliant.
Would you be willing to sell a copy of Jesse's book? The hard back copies I've found are so expensive. No worries if not. Thanks.
@@gstraface9188 it’s in pdf, scanned from the original book
@@daweilee1986
If it's readable I would take it. Could you send in an email?
Another fun episode. Thank you Alex 🙏
An amazing book!
Available in the UK on Amazon next month
I believe Mr. Little when he said he was training everyday like Bruce. But, did he trained 16-18 hours daily as stated by the official Bruce Lee biographer known as Beardy? 🤔
_Weirdy Beerdy_ is doing it all wrong.
Sleep is for pussies!
Bruce Lee was training in his sleep. Sleepwalking?
Nah, The Dragon was Sleepfighting most nights.
I've seen a number of videos that Beerdy has done and to be honest with you, much of what he talks about is not true and pretty much made up just for the sake of trying to produce content for his channel.
@@comicbookal Hi! Yes, I know. This is a running joke a like to do with the KFG.
Just saw Ryan O Neal is here on YT. The sparring footage with Frazier is there.
This was golden. Thank you so much for this :).
You're so welcome!
I can’t believe this interview hasn’t hit a million views yet , especially when you see some of the crap spoken about Bruce lee on TH-cam ‘breedy lol ‘ , great interview Alex
Thank you that’s very kind!
Very interesting interview!
When you have the possibility to speak to John again, it would be very cool, if you ask him about Howard Williams. He was the youngest student under Bruce and James Lee at the oakland school. Reffered as rugget by Bruce himself, he was a though guy with power and speed in his hands and feet, and praised by James who tell him he had the natural attributes Bruce train for a long time to gain. He was also able to kick that hydraulic kicking aparatus of Bruce with reletively equal force of Bruce, which no one else could. In his later years he teach in Oakland Jeet Kune Do (power punching and kicking, non-telegraphing movement, attacking from neutral position etc.) According to Ted Wong and Bob Baker he was the most dedicaded one, who should teach JKD to the newer generation further.
Unfortunatly you can't find much information about him out there. Just a few online pages, a few short online videos and one longer interview from the mid 1990s (a wonderful peace of an interview and a recomendation to all who are interested in Bruce and his Jeet Kune Do).
I think he deserves more attention, even though he is dead for quite a while. And people who knew should talk about him.
Yeah, the way I've heard Howard described is Bruce's attributes in a bigger package; and he started in high school so, like Ted Wong, I believe his first and only art was JKD. I had an acting friend from the East Bay whom I met doing theatre down on the Central Coast and who was into fencing, so when I mentioned Bruce Lee's connection to that art he went bonkers researching him and, when he found out one of his top students was still living and teaching in Oakland, called him up and signed up for classes when he got back home. He said Mr. Williams one-inch punch was harder than anyone could kick and described him as having "poison hands," meaning even if you blocked his hit, it would probably break something. Oh, and when they were working with a baseball bat, nobody wanted to attack Howard; not because because they might hurt him but because he might hurt THEM, lol.
Finally, during sparring, one of the students nailed another one good-like the poor guy's teeth were loose afterwards and Howard examined them and went, "Yeah, those'll tighten back up in a few days," lol-and Howard's reaction was, "Ooooo…if you had hit Bruce like that I'd have feared for your life!" Of course, everyone went, "Wait…Bruce got HIT?" to which Howard went, "Yeah, and you did NOT wanna be the one who did it 'cause Bruce only got hit if he WANTED to get hit." "Why would he do that?" they asked. "So he'd have an excuse to open up on you." Apparently, the wrath of the Dragon wasn't always deserved, lol.
gonna run out and pick this book up. this was a great episode!
Great Interview! Thank you for this, I'm definitely ordering this book. Awesome Episode 👊🏽
Hi. KFG. I am enjoying your podcast. Did you get to do the PART 2 OF ALEX BEN BLOCK interview? Also do you know why Bruce Lee initially named the movie 'the way of the dragon' the enter the dragon? Thanks.
Did you ever interview. Peter chin. Just wrote a.book about bruce peter.lives in las Vegas where i live he is such a great guy and has many great stories. Hes a.good friend of mine love the stories much respect.
I’m watching some of his interviews to see if there’s anything interesting for our listeners.
It would be great if John Little would have interviewed Ryan O'Neal on that sparring session with Bruce. Years ago, I read a different account of that, that Ryan was punching the bag, and Bruce told him he was good, but that here's what's missing from boxing, and he showed him kicks on the bag, or he had Ryan hold the shield while he kicked it. Been many years since I read it. It implied that they were friends.
Ryan is here on YT, the footage of the Frazier sparring is there too.
thank you alex and john, great to hear you both here together again. also you mention tom bleecker, love to see you talk to mr. bleecker..btw, my wife is ordering your new book right now,,and i am in the final chapters of his,,unsettled matters.
brilliant subject.the real fights of bruce lee,,,, bruce was often the subject of my original fine art paintings,, some of which hang in homes all over the world, not to bore you, only to show how hugely popular bruce was 20 years after his death. cheers , ciao and love from a former self taught bruce lee martial artist...
robert in italy.
ps, question,
i took my 6 year old son to see dragon in 1992, he loved it, but i thought , it was bullshite, did you kung fu genius see dragon, and did you enjoy it.
I guess the book will talk about the time Bruce drop kicked MIke Tyson at Venice Beach. I think there is a video out there of it that someone filmed on their iPhone.
This and “power factor” as well as “Tao of JKD” are as close of a reference to Bruce’s training regime.
Preordered mine on kindle!Cant wait til Tuesday!
Yo kfg I liked ye laugh when John mentioned Bob wall and then ye face went straight that was pretty cool keep up ye brill work and more John little on
Fascinating episode! Great stories that got better and better as the interview unfolded. Good stuff! I ordered the book using the above link. I also found the Jessie Glover book discussed in the interview on Amazon- Is this legit, the real McCoy? Wonderful interview.
I have a signed copy of Jesse's book BWCAJKD. I think I got it in 1977 or so directly from Jesse. I already had a copy I bought in a Norfolk bookstore but it was missing a page.
Its very interesting reading this book . I grew up in the 70s and there was this idea that Bruce Lee is the greatest martial artist of all and then it was forgotten like a childhood legend of a cyclops or a unicorn because weve grown up and then John Little does some research and discovers a cyclops or a Unicorn skeleton and does DNA analysis to show that it actually exists. !
Red spiral bound? My copy of Jesse Glovers book is paperback (perfect binding) and I bought it in 1977. Interesting.
Great interview, the book sounds fantastic 👍
Such a great episode - thank you guys made my night :)
Our pleasure!
How amazing it mustve been to research this and interview folk for this book AND get paid for it !
With Linda Lee's biography, "Bruce Lee, The Man Only I Knew," weren't there 2 versions of that biography? It seems like I remember one was more raw and truthful, while the second version came along later and was slightly more edited to reflect Bruce more positively. Am I remembering this correctly? I ask because I'm trying to finish out my collection with both John Little and Jesse Glover's books on Bruce. (And eventually Marcos Ocaña Rizo).
You are remembering correctly.
I would love to listen to these Joe Lewis Interview Tapes.....
Why isn't this released till November in the uk!?
Bruce walked the walk. He lived his martial arts, and everybody who knew him seems to have come to same consensus. It should be easy for a true martial artist or athlete to see that Bruce was the real deal. You just can fake the stuff that Bruce WAS
We made a thread on this on Drunken Master’s Bruce Lee forum back in the day. We ended up with a little collection across different sources, but hardly enough for a full book unless you really stretch the material. Well, anyway according to the Bruce Lee Real Fight channel which is of course the pinnacle of scientific studies on this planet, Bruce was undefeated in his films. So there’s that 🤣
Awesome Episode!!! 🙏🙏💪💪
That was Excellent!!! Thank you both!!!
Our pleasure!
The best podcasts in the world love them also john little is world leading authorty on bruce amazing guy
There is a letter that Joe Lewis sent to Black Belt magazine... in which he even said
" had I challenged Bruce lee , I can assure you , he would have accepted immediately "
I am sure you read that letter Mr Richter
I met Joe Lewis and even in old age he looked like a big bad ass solid dude
Yes, but his machismo in later age still does not act as a qualifier for the things that came out of his mouth
I attended a seminar of his when he was old a few years before his death and I clearly saw that he had a love hate relationship with Bruce ….I can go on and on but I did see that first hand . ( bad ass solid looking old man he was lol )
Awesome book
I've been listening to a Chris Reeve autobiography. Is there a detailed story on how Bruce Lee recovered from his back injury? That would be another great story to really hear how the play by play went and maybe a book of that specific time in Bruce's life.
I have very often wondered that and that is an excellent question. I used to assume he did tons of acupuncture and maybe some kind of mind over matter, self healing, however, sadly, aside from some self applied physical therapy type stuff, it has come out, on this channel that Bruce took a lot of painkillers, hashish and in his last year, was using cocaine too. So, some form of ingested substances played a role in his pain management because his own self rehab only fixed it to a degree
I hope KFG replies, but I think he'll say something similar to me
@@axelstone3131 Yes, agreed. Probably the self rehab and then the unresolved stuff, it seems he pushed through with painkillers and drugs, unfortunately.
The thing that has to be clarified is that he never fully healed, even with the self rehab because it was always stated that he fought pain on the set of Enter the Dragon, so that is where to drugs came in....pain killers, hash and then finally cocaine.
@@axelstone3131 почему Брюс Ли не снимал бои к фильму ,, игра смерти,, после завершения ,, выход дракона,, ? Правда ли , что он сильно болел в последний месяц жизни ?
@@axelstone3131 Бэтти тинг Пэй из семьи потомственных докторов. Почему же Бэтти не захотела вызвать скорую помощь? Почему Рэймонд Чоу не посоветовал ей вызвать скорую помощь? Странная история.