Bruce Lee whose original name was Lee Jun-fan was a martial artist, martial arts trainer along with an actor and film director. Bruce Lee is also accredited for founding the martial art “Jeet Kune Do” which is one of the wushu or kung fu styles.
Bruce Lee was 16 when he started getting trained in Wing Chun under Yip Man in 1957 after he lost to many rival gang members. However, due to his involvement in the street fights and as police were also keeping an eye on him, his parents decided to send him to America from Hong Kong. He moved to America and started teaching martial arts in 1959.
In the 1960s, the Chinatown of San Francisco was a great platform for the young martial artists and Bruce Lee also decided to open his second Jun Fan martial arts studio in Oakland. Soon, his popularity in the region increased and there were many non-Chinese students also who joined his institute.
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However, it is being said that the Chinese community didn’t like that Bruce Lee was teaching non-Chinese people the secret of Chinese martial arts. As per Lee, an ultimatum was issued to him by the Chinese community ordering him to stop teaching non-Chinese students. But when he refused to obey them, they challenged him to have a fight with Wong Jack Man. It was decided that if Bruce Lee lost the match, he will have to shut down his institute and if he won, he will be allowed to teach anyone.
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This reason of the fight is a little controversial as Wong Jack Man already had a martial art institute in Oakland even before Bruce Lee opened up his own and there were a good number of non-Chinese students in Wong’s institute. As per Wong, he never discriminated against white or non-Chinese students and he requested Bruce Lee for a fight after Bruce Lee boasted in Chinatown theatre that he can beat anyone in San Francisco.
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He is a Chinese martial artist and trainer, he taught T'ai chi chuan, Northern Shaolin and Xingyiquanat at the Fort Mason Center, San Francisco. Born in Hong Kong, the Grandmaster retired in 2005. The fight between him and Bruce Lee is considered as one of the biggest fights of the Chinese martial arts.
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There is no doubt that the fight between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man is among the most famous and biggest fights in the history of martial arts but there are many aspects of this fight about which not much is known and different people have given different accounts.
Wong wanted the fight to be public but Bruce Lee had objections to it so it was decided that a private fight will take place at Lee’s school in the presence of few people.
Some say that the total number of people who attended the fight was somewhere 7 to 15; however, the attendance of only three persons has been confirmed till date. These three attendants are Bruce Lee’s wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, Lee’s associate James Lee and a local Tai Chi trainer, William Chen.
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As the fight took place in a closed room and it wasn’t recorded, we don’t have any other option, other than believing the people who watched the fight. But it becomes more difficult for us to know what happened in the fight when the people who have watched the fight gave different accounts of the same fight.
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As per Linda, the fight finished in three minutes. They both started by bowing down formally and then the fight began. Lee was aggressive from the beginning and within a minute, Wong’s men were trying to stop the fight as it was getting difficult for Wong to handle the punches of Lee. However, the fight didn’t stop as James Lee warned all of them not to stop the fight. Soon, Lee overpowered Wong and brought him down at the floor and Wong accepted his defeat.
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Wong didn’t agree to Linda’s version of fight as he says that the fight went on for 20 minutes. He agreed that Bruce Lee was very aggressive as if he would have accepted defeat only if his life would have been taken. In fact, when Wong extended his hand towards Bruce Lee for handshake, Lee jumped forward and quick spear hand to Wong’s eyes. Wong said that he fought with a lot of restraint because he didn’t want anybody’s life to be in danger. As per Wong, the duration of the fight was minimum 20 minutes and it came to an end as Lee became winded and not because of a fight-ending blow from either of them.
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William Chen’s version of Wong Jack Man Vs. Bruce Lee fight is somewhat similar to Wong’s version and opposite to Linda’s version. He also agreed that the fight went on for 20-25 minutes and it was a tie. William also agreed to the fact that Wong had a restrained approach while Bruce was very aggressive.
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The truth of the Wong Jack Man Vs Bruce Lee fight will always remain a mystery but it did have a great effect on Bruce Lee. Whether he won the fight or not, but Bruce Lee realized that he need to bring reform in his fighting style and develop a more practical style.
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While giving an interview to a magazine, Bruce said that he had a fight with someone in San Francisco and the person started running soon to save himself. Lee said that he kept punching him at back and at his head but Lee soon realized that his fists started to swell, making him realize that Wing Chun is not a practical style.
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After Bruce Lee gave an interview in the magazine and said that he defeated someone without taking Wong’s name, Wong published his version of the fight in a Chinese daily in San Francisco. Wong also gave an invitation of a public fight if Bruce Lee had problem with what he has written in the newspaper. Surprisingly, Lee had a history of reacting to every provocation but this time, he remained silent.
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After not being happy with Wing Chun, Bruce Lee developed a more practical style of fighting which he names as “Jeet Kune Do”. It was developed by combining the features of Wing Chun, wrestling, western boxing, fencing and taekwondo. It was designed keeping in mind to exert a maximum effect in minimal movement.
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Many believe that it is Wong Jack Man who had the upper hand in the fight as Wong Jack Man went to work the next day of the fight with just a mark under his eye. If Bruce Lee would have beaten him as he and his wife claimed then Wong must have got some serious injuries.
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