Читать книгу Straight Lead. The Core of Bruce Lee's Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do онлайн

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At this writing lack of worthwhile talent in the heavyweight division is particularly appalling. It’s almost unbelievable that the heavy division should have declined so far since the days when I was fighting my way up in 1917, 1918, and 1919.¹³

All of this made Dempsey, well, fighting mad. Of Championship Fighting, Dempsey told biographer Roger Kahn, “I wrote it because there is such ignorance about boxing. . . . Most of the boxing I see today is just embarrassing.”¹⁴ Among Dempsey’s technical complaints regarding straight hitting were the following:

Figure 3: Jack Dempsey.

Dempsey was a major influence on the JKD straight lead. Indeed, in his own copy of Championship Fighting, Bruce had underlined key words from the above passage. Among them were “putting body weight in fast motion,” “power line,” “shoulder whirl,” “trigger step,” and “three-knuckle landing.” These are issues that we’ll soon address in greater detail.

T H E B A D B O Y O F F E N C I N G

Of the Straight Lead Triumvirate, I’ve saved the most colorful character for last: Aldo Nadi, fencing legend and four-time Olympic medalist at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, whose offthe-strip escapades were every bit as thrilling as his fencing triumphs.