The Controversial Fight

Cüneyt Oruç

I think; Emin Boztepe is do not want hit to William Cheung

Frank Andresen

Ich war bei diesem Kampf zwar nicht dabei, aber ich weiß, dass er Anfang der 80er Jahre stattgefunden hat. Es wurde seinerzeit ein Artikel in einer namhaften Budo-Zeitschrift veröffentlicht. Einige Jahre später - so in etwa 1988 - hörte ich Meister A. Yie, der den Lehrgang mit Cheung ausgerichtet hat, darüber reden. Er gab sich aber ziemlich "bedeckt" und wollte auf die Schuldfrage nicht näher eingehen.

Mark

There was no fight. It was a disgraceful ambush of an invited guest.

DocNo

Master William Cheung is my Wing Chun "Sifu" in the late seventies. Bruce Lee was also attacked at the airport and got injured but sent all five assailants to the hospital while he suffered a broken rib. In a real fight who gets the first punch usually loses due to the physical and psychological effect, especially if it was a planned ambush. Leung Ting knew that William Cheung's grappling skill was limited and Emin was an MMS fighter with expertise in grappling. As you can see in this video Emin wrestled William down onto the ground. I have also studied the Brazilian Jujitsu and it's like knowing how to swim or not; thus, you'll drown if you don't. Nevertheless, the question is why didn't Leung Ting attack William himself?

Christopher Hall

make all the excuses you want he got beat, it's done and over w/ !!! that happen back in 1986

Filipe

@DocNo Bruce Lee never broke his rib, he had back hurt because of overtraining.

Dean Marshall

Everyone loves to leave out how after Emin attacked William Cheung like a dishonorable coward. Cheungs undefeated student Master Keith Mazza Publicly challenged Emin to a million dollar fight. Emin refused claiming to have retired from competition. Emin is nothing more then a coward hiding behind suprize attacks. I spot on the ground he walks on.

avatvila

From what I've heard from multiple sources present at the time, Boztepe's version is true. After this tour through Germany, Cheung was supposed to come to Yugoslavia in a matter of days. But he didn't show up... Then people heard what happened and made a conclusion that he was actually pretty roughly beaten at that seminar in Cologne, it would be very wrong to see a "grandmaster" that blue...

Nilda Mckechnie

Excellent article. I will be dealing with many of these issues as well..

Mike Adams

This was a major embarrassment the whole Ving Tsun world. Two Masters , William Cheung and Leung Ting behaving like spoiled children. The most important question is not who won the fight, but rather, where was William Cheung's disciples protecting their Grandmaster?

BiuTzeMan

@Dean Marshall Stop telling lies about Emin. Where is the proof of your "knowledge" about the million dollar fight?

Chris K

@DocNo you're saying Bruce was attacked in the late 70's? How is that possible when he died in 1973. More BS stories.

Wing Chun

Ah the Wing Chun wars of fhe 80's when the war of words between Grandmaaters William Cheung and Lsung Ting raged across the pages of martial arts magaxines, often fuelled by writers such as Combat's Bay Logan who ran William Cheung's statement as if it was an open challenge Sadly both sides came out looking bad, from William Cheung's i am unbratqble, oh i was wearing the wrong shoes, oh there was oil on the floor, oh i slupped, oh i didnt want to unleash my full force upon an opponent and subsequent excuses While Leung Ting seemed torn between actively gloating that hia student had publicly assaulted a rival, and trying not to apprar as if he set it up... While Emin became infamous for many of the wrong reasons Sadly Wing chun too often seems to be a victim of its own politics, everybody claiming ti be Yip Man/Ip Man's real sole student even doen to the lack of unity amongst Yip Chun and the late Yip Ching etc over who lewrnt what and who is the real successor I think in this case, both Leung Ting and William Cheung were victims of their own ego and arrogance, its one thing to be proud of your art but the endless boastong and belittling of everyonr else doesnt enhance, it merely smears both mens reputations While Emin is or at least was a pheneomenal fighter, i think he got atuck with the label of being a brutish thug by many people ans his own journey through Wing Chun and other fighting arts is too often ignored apart from this incodent, something i think he regrets having been a part of

Maikel Remond

@Dean Marshall Dudo mucho que Dai Sifu Emin se negara a un reto público con ese maestro o cualquier otro .muestra evidencia de tus acusaciones .Pues lo que si es verdad es que le ganó a WC y evidencia de eso es que varios estudiantes testigos de ese día se fueron y se hicieron alumnos de Emin.

Annonymous

If you read the article from William Cheung he states he was unmarked. He had him in a headlock the whole time. He blocked every punch. Not one photo was released showing any marks on him. I personally don't like William. He once said something to me which was just plain offensive, uncalled for, disrespectful and rude. I can understand someone wanting to attack him. He is a very honest man however, and so I take his account as the truth. As I said read the full article.

Baltimore Smythes Farlow

I'm a lawyer and will break it down so theres no doubts about who is telling the truth. Why is there no beginning or end? Surely in any confrontation there is a verbal and start of fight phase. The fact it is edited out tends to support Cheungs story that Boztepe came unannounced with 20 supporters gatecrashed the seminar and attacked him from behind. There is also no ending the video abruptly ends as Cheung appears to break free. Why didnt Boztepe finish the job if he was really in control. Why does the camera not at least stay on loblng enough to show Cheungs bloodied/ battered face where these supposed punches in the edited shown footage landed? We have nothing no video or still of cheungs face . I think the video abruptly ends in the editing because Cheung had escaped and rather than engage in a face to face fight with the faster superior fighter Cheung Boztepe and his thugs and video camera fled...the sneak attack having failed. Why not release the full video? Also both men slip...cheung in his slippery kung fu slippers and boztepe too slips as he has no balance so boztepe didnt throw cheung that is a laughable claim given boztepe himself ends axx over elbow...besides there are plenty of easy ways such as a single or double leg take down to floor a 5ft 7 and 135 pound man than this strange broken flower collspsing technique boztepe claims. We know from 30 years of MMA that a fight going to the ground or someone being in a side mount position doesnt mean their winning. His knuckle punches in the video appear to be the kind of punches a 9 year old sister throws at her annoying 6 year old sibling in the back of mom and pops station wagon on a long trip to wisconcin for thanksgiving. The ambush was a disgraceful bungle and proves nothing neither does it show boztepe beating up cheung like he shamelessly claimed for a decade after the incident.Those of us around in the mid 80s onwards know boztepe made his name off this non incident...like some desperate fame hungry tabloid kiss n tell pre big brother reality show young woman he sold his story....fact...boztepe dated an actress 30 years his senior and got fame off it...admittedly one of the most beautiful women in the world in the 60s...but emin dated her in the late 90s....facts boztepe in his prime at 31-32-35 was continuously invited to ufc....or could have fought in non gracie nhb mma events like vale tudo or pride.....he never did.....he avoided showing us wing chun in a world famous fight.....says a lot.....he didnt wanna be exposed had lots of students to make a living off? I dont deny boztepe looked the part was undoubtedly a very fast skilled fighter and i personally think he would have done very well in ufc 1 or 2 certainly reached a final...he had tactics and by that point had developed an anti grappling system unseen in the wider world to this day. Its also clear he had a long loving and respectful relationship with the very beautiful and elegant jacqueline bisset. Its just a shame he committed such an appaling sneak attack on a grandmaster like cheung. Black Belt magazine in America were sent a full unedited video by leung ting and saw it for what it was a sneak attack from behind with no punches landed no victory...just a brief scuffle/ scramble. Not cool to besmirch a legend like cheung...that was equivalent to the recent punk attack by a spectator on a 63 year old Bret Hart of the WWE. These older legends have nothinh to prove and everything to lose crippling some young punk looking for a fight....as an older man emin boztepe learned to understand this himself. Im sure if he has any decency he deeply regrets what he did and the lies he told to make a name....but he wont publicly say it...as his whole reputation is built on trying to ambush cheung. He should at least privately apologise to cheung who is now 81.

Sifu Stephen Connolly GEE YOW KUNE DO

The big problem here is you have a traditional wing chun teacher and someone how fights the to can not be compared. To truly be successful you must adapt to you own way or style of fighting I have had many fights in the ring and out of the ring and this is also very different. Study different ways brig them together and make it your own trust you own body it will show you the way you must constantly adjust and evolve. To be successful, there is no winning or losing learn and reset

Talaba

Many witnesses can be seen on the video. What do they say?

Dejan

Emin weared protectiv shild under shirt, GM stab him with fingers in body and he had chinese shoes and flor was sliperry, Emin counted on German, whan they get up Cheung asked him again but others stopped becouse purpose was done everything is filmed and seld with vhs cassete of Tings video. Ting ordered attack, there was subtitute person in Serbia if Eminn didn t accepted.

George D

The only real point to this incident is that two of the best Wing Chun practitioners in the world engaged in a fight and neither one did Wing Chun. Actual violence can often reveal which martial arts and which martial artists are effective and which are not. Neither man used a Wing Chun stance, chi sao, lap sao, bong sau or any saos/saus for that matter. Both men needed grappling skills but had none. This was just one of many examples of “skilled” martial artists that were unable to use their skill under the pressure and dynamics of real violence. Who won, who lost, who was right and who was wrong is completely irrelevant. For another example of “Wing Chun effectiveness”, check out Rickson Gracie (5’10”, 185 lbs.) vs Wing Chun practitioner, David Levicki (6’5”, 250 lbs.) in their 1994 Vale Tudo Japan #5 fight. Spoiler alert: It took 2:40 of the first round for Rickson to demolish the Wing Chun fighter who had a 7” height and 65 lbs. body weight advantage.