Dave Baptiste I can vouch for that, I had a student fighting in the 'worlds' a few years back at Aston Villa. He finally beat Dave Baptiste but only after he had chased him aorund the ring a few times. I thought he was arrogant and a legend in his own mind.
Anyone here anything re Nathan megatron lewis? Alfie Lewis trained in lau gar did he teach or just fight for lau gar for a while? Clash of Titans videos show some top rated fights in the 90s pity theres nothing like that out there anymore. Are there any tapes of Neville Wray fighting floating around anywhere?
i trained with nathan lewis a good few months back down at the hq, he showed us a nice 3 section staff forms he'd been working on. he cant half jump for a big fella!
Steve Babbs Steve Babbs is a faded memory now, I started in 1982 and as far as I can recall he was pretty much out of things then. That said, I heard he was a genius, brilliant at fighting; I wish I had seen him for myself. I think he was very well respected.
Way before i was even born, how come these guys wern't promoted so much, were they the top dogs of their time? Nobody in my era would even know who they are, i've only seen a few pictures and heard stories. Where can i find videos of them? And why has the state of tournament fighting weakened so much these days?
1st degree Black sash at the end of the of the 70's was probably as high as you could have gone given that the BKFA had only been in existence since 1973 and it took 5 years to Black sash. There were only three degree grades until around the mid 80;s therefore the time in between would have been greater than it is now. 2nd degree would have been quite an achievement, now its run of the mill. I don't think degree grades reflect ability at all these days. Black belts have become like academic qualifications, watered down and symptomatic of a society that denies there is failure.
I dont know if that was an answer to my questions? But yeah i know grades arn't all that reflective, it means nothing since anybody can get them in the BKFA hence why many schools are weak today. I judge people on their actual skill at performing Lau Gar, what rank you hold is irrelevant. Afterall master Yau didn't have grading systems in china it was all based on your skill and you learn more once you can actually perform what is taught to you. As i was saying what happened to the legacy the guys mentioned left behind? Like why has it all fallen apart?
Met Neville Wray at a wako tournament last year, nice bloke.Invited us to a tournament he was running.....which I thought was odd as it was an independent one....and he's a guardian.
Yeah his always at the tournaments great guy, what do you mean independant?? Alot of the BKFA ones i have been at have been open to all styles and people i even think the nationals might be. They will be the best ever this year!
He was running his own tournament, can't remember what it was called. Wasn't a BKFA one. The one we were at was a WAKO one, the Bristol Death Squad were there too. I got put into the wrong category and almost ended up fighting their champion (hard woman, think she's called Sharon) but luckily I realised in time
oh right yeah i get ya, we are apart of the WAKO organisation so we adopt there rules. (i think). Bristol Death Squad are class and the leicster guys arn't too bad either. I wanna make a fight team from our kickboxers and come up with a cool name.
lol, that was prob sharon gill, a legend in points fighting stuff. Was she only really short? @ freud-god - the reason why tournament fighting has lost its popularity is because points fighting has had its day, back in the early days it was popular and the thing to be the champ at, but, its glorified tick, and people know that now. It doesnt have the credibility it once had, who do you think puts more on the line now, a semi-contact fighter or an MMA fighter? As many of you know I dont rate points, its good for learning timing but thats about it.
the only one I know who may have been was steve babbs, I tihnk the real REAL old skool dudes where full contact fighters, but the ones who made lau famous were all semi contact dudes, like the old clash of the titans stuff.
Yeah but the points fighting was exciting to watch with the more flamboyant fighters We all know real kung fu/ fighting is boring. give me points as opposed to MMA any time Just a pity we cant get hold of the clash of the titan tapes any more with some of the original lau fighters we all have done the bruce lee stamp and war cry thats whats got me started on this way back in the 70s
I believe that the Lau Gar method of fighting we know now and certainly that championed by former top fighters is a style that was not present at the beginning of the BKFA. I was told by my old Instructor present during the very early years that early competitions saw a much more traditional way of fighting that developed (had to develop) because of the American influence. They had the high flashy kicks, a more rounded tournament approach to fighting and we followed. I think it evolved again in the 80's (probably again due to another American influence) when Kevin Brewerton introduced the Blitz as we now know it. Lau was always fast, but I don't recall that teasing arm out, ultra low stance and the trademark blitz typified by KB when I started. Then again memories fade, If am wrong then I stand corrected. From there it went mad. I never saw Steve Babbs and we have had some ace fighters since but my money will always be on Alfie Lewis; superb in every way on the mats.
Yes it was That was the last points tournament we went to, and my last ever , I don't rate it either but recognise its importance back in the day.
Yeah i think freestyle sparring which is testing out real self defence is critical, and full contact more towards an MMA rule set always holds better realism. But still the points and light continous is good fun, I never plan on entering a tournament but sometimes i just feel like it and go to a tournament and do it just for the laugh. I'm not too good at that rule set though.
It's worth pointing out that points back in the day was a much more voilent beast than it is now. Check out the COTT footage (there was a free DVD on the front cover of combat magazine once) and you'll see them beating the crap out of each other. my favourite is the sweep & follow up where someone is swept so they are about 3ft in the air and horizontal.... then the other guy punching him back into the mat. ahhhhh, fun! Anyway, i know kevin brewerton did some full contact training - no idea how much he competed in it though. As Mr. O says points was the flavour of the day and those guys just loved to fight. If they were around now they'd probably all be MMA guys. As for what made Lau great - i think it was the kickboxing influence. Certainly from what everyone has told me Jeremy Yau had no interest at all in points.
