New to this forum, so I don't know if this has ever been discussed.
What is your opinion on Bill Wallace's defense? If you don't know, he's one of the most decorated American Kickboxers of all time. He retired undefeated and known for his quick kicks.
His defense: He has his lead arm down by his side and his rear hand in a fist protecting his face. He would defend using by leaning back, using his shoulder to defend against shots to his face.
Anybody ever try this method out? Effective?
Bill was/is an unorthodox guy. I could never fight like that but it obviously worked for him. I wish I knew him back then as he is still in great shape today and it would be very cool to have seen him train. He still works real hard and is still very flexible.
His hand position may be unorthodox, but his boxing is superb.
are there any clips of these old fighters in the ring online?
It worked well for american rules kickboxing (no leg kicks), he actually fought almost out of a horse stance. Put his one good leg in front and you had to get past it, if you did get past it, he had decent boxing, which was more than almost any of the other KBers in those days had.
When I was doing Kenpo back in like 93 or 94 My instructors son almost got into a fight with him because Bill thought he was getting to rough with a guy in a point fight.
for the type of competitions he did, his style was phenomenal. And that left leg of his was as deadly as they come.
interesting piece of trivia. Bill couldn't kick for shit with his right leg, and openly admitted it.
Sadly, the guy can barely walk these days. Last few times I've seen him he had a really bad limp.
He had that limp when he started his standup training. He started in wrestling, went into judo, stepped in for a throw and had a guy sit down on his leg, snapping his knee. He started Shorin ryu (I think?) karate with a thigh cast on.
I have heard that it's gotten worse since he had his hip replacement surgery.
Yup, he could only kick with his left, but his left leg was f*ckin' amazing.
I think it was "Meals on Wheels," the Jackie Chan movie where he played a villian. His foot speed was phenomenal.
I think that defense stance is a pretty decent stance for boxing. A few boxers like to drop the arm like he did to bait their opponents and also the shoulder works pretty well to protect the face. But its the leg kicks that I think the stance is vulnerable to.
Everybody knew he could only kick with the left leg, but no one figured out how to get around it. One of his "tricks" was the chamber - he'd pick his leg up, and deliver one of 3 kicks from the same position (round, side, or hook) - and they all had power. So, there's his foot, ready, and it's coming at you at up to 70 mph either straight in, from the left, or for the right. Guess wrong, and it might be over...
My instructor had a couple of funny Wallace stories - they were fighting about the same time, but they never fought each other. One tournament (back in the bare knuckle days) my instructor was in was a "no contact" bare knuckle tournament. My instructor tagged his opponent with a light kick (said he just brushed his uniform) and the guy steps back, grabs his side & falls down, trying to get my instructor DQ'd for excessive contact. There's a big discussion by the judges, my instructor gets a warning, and they let the match continue. When they bow to restart, my instructor (he's kind of PO'd) tells the guy "I'm gonna let you know what it feels like to get hit." The match starts, they clash, my instructor punches right below the ear & drops him.
Match stops, my instructor is waiting to get DQ'd, when Bill Wallace - who had been watching the match - steps in, picking the guy up (who's still woozy), telling the judges "nahh, he's just faking it again! See!" After a few moments of Wallace's convincing them, they let my instructor go on (he got DQ'd fighting for first later).
I think it was "Meals on Wheels," the Jackie Chan movie where he played a villian. His foot speed was phenomenal. That was Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. He and Jackie had a rematch in "Dragons Forever".
Got an old pick of him with my trainer
http://www.ko-kickboxing.co.uk/Gallery/superfoot/superfoot.htm
Bounce, the lead hand lower defence and stance that wallace uses is actually quite similar to the JKD stance that Bruce Lee recomended. You have to have a really good lead leg sidekick and really fast reactions to make it work in my opinion