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| Competition details | |
|---|---|
| Discipline | Karate |
| Type | Kumite, biennial |
| History | |
| First edition | August 1964 inLong Beach, California, United States |
TheLong Beach International Karate Championships is an Internationalkarate andmartial arts tournament inLong Beach, California that was first held in August 1964 byKenpo GrandmasterEd Parker.[1][2] The tournament ran competition til 1999 under IKKA organization/Parker family. Many great tournament fighters earned their stripes at this tournament, includingChuck Norris, Andy Ah Po, Tony Martinez Sr.,Mike Stone,Joe Lewis,Jim Kelly,Benny "The Jet" Urquidez,Billy Blanks, Jerry Piddington, and "Superfoot"Bill Wallace.[3][4] The Long Beach Internationals is also whereBruce Lee was first introduced to the martial arts community in August 1964, with Lee making another appearance in 1967.
In 1964, Bruce Lee appeared at the inaugural tournament[5] and demonstrated hisone-inch punch and two-finger push-ups. His volunteer was Robert "Bob" Baker ofStockton, California, who was Lee's student and became the lead villain inFist of Fury. "I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again", he recalled. "When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from work because the pain in my chest was unbearable."[6] The only existing, high quality footage of Bruce Lee's 1964Wing Chun demonstration was filmed with a16mm camera. The sole proprietor of this 8.5-minute-long video is a California-based company, Rising Sun Productions. The owner of this company and reported discoverer of this video is Don Warrener. Poorer quality generations of this footage can be viewed on the Internet.
Bruce Lee made another appearance at Ed Parker's 1967 U'S. Internationals Karate tournament in Long Beach, California. The 1967 video footage has been preserved at a higher quality than the earlier 1964 footage. He demonstrates his fast speed, launching quickeye strikes before his opponent canblock. Lee then performschi sau while blindfolded, probing for weaknesses in his opponent while scoring withpunches andtakedowns. He then performs the one-inch punch on several volunteers. Most notably, Lee then participates in asparring demonstration against sparring partners James Yimm Lee and Guru Dan Inosanto with Inosanto first and Yimm Lee second. Lee, Yimm Lee and Inosanto were all wearing leather headgear and full body gear. Lee can be seen implementing hisJeet Kune Do concept of economical motion, usingMuhammad Ali inspiredfootwork to keep out of range whilecounter-attacking withbackfists andstraight punches. He demonstrated and successfully proved the Jeet Kune Do concept of the lead hand being used as a probe to gauge the fight situation. He also halts his opponent's attacks with stop-hitside kicks and quickly executes severalsweeps and headkicks. The opponent is never able to connect with a clean hit, but once manages to come close with aspin kick. The fight footage was reviewed byBlack Belt magazine in 1995, concluding that "the action is as fast and furious as anything inLee's films."[7]
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