Bruce Lee’s hands.
Driscoll lamented the decline of British boxing, which he blamed on “circumstantial evidence” that supported the effectiveness of swinging punches. Remember that primal swinging motions are observed in bears and cats. Driscoll referred to uneducated fighters as “Bear-Cats.” In an unfortunate set of circumstances, a succession of Bear-Cats outweighed and overpowered a series of British boxers.
In particular, Driscoll cited the rise of the wildly swinging Frank Craig, aka The Coffee Cooler, as the reason for the “Decline and Fall of British Boxing.” Because swings are easier to see and appear to have more power behind them, British spectators believed them to be more effective. Driscoll argued that had The Cooler met an educated fighter, he would not have fared well, and also dryly pointed out that just because The Cooler chewed gum while fighting, aspiring fighters adopted gum chewing to improve their fighting abilities.
Flying in the face of thousands of years of fighting science, Bear-Cats such as The Cooler led the public to the weak conclusion that swinging like an animal was more effective than straight hitting. In very little time, British fistic science backslid considerably. Driscoll knew he need look no further than the development of the rapier to argue the merits of straight punching.8
It is most likely that this is where Bruce Lee got many of his ideas for applying the fencing straight thrust to Jeet Kune Do. “It’s Western sword fencing—without the sword,” he used to say.9 The source of that principle was Jim Driscoll, who wrote:
And this is where the straight left comes in. Not, as is usually supposed, mainly as a mode of attack, but rather as a more effective and valuable means of keeping an opponent at a respectful distance. I have remarked elsewhere that the science of modern boxing as instituted by Figg and Broughton was, and has always remained, a material development of the art of fencing. It is practically sword fencing without the sword, and follows in all its movements, or, rather, should follow, the same principles.10
Compare to The Tao of Jeet Kune Do:
Like a fencer’s sword that is always in line, the leading jab is a constant threat to your opponent. Basically, it is Western sword fencing without a sword and the primary target is your opponent’s eyes.11
During Driscoll’s time, American boxing had not yet declined in the way British boxing had, and Driscoll cited straight shooters such as Jack Dempsey as model fighters for their straight hitting, weight transfer, and footwork.12
T H E M A N A S S A M A U L E R
It wouldn’t take long, however, for American boxing to succumb to the evils of commercialization. In 1950, Jack Dempsey published Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defence in an attempt to correct a situation that, ironically, he had inadvertently helped create with his hard-hitting style. Dempsey explained how his popularity resulted in a lowest common denominator approach to pugilism:
Unfortunately, my big gates did more to commercialize fighting than anything else in pugilistic history. As a commercial enterprise, the fight-game began attracting people who knew little or nothing about self-defence. Hoping to make quick money, they flocked into boxing from other fields. They came as promoters, managers, trainers, and even instructors. Too often they were able to crowd out old timers because they had money to invest, because they were better businessmen, or merely because they were glib-talking hustlers. They mistaught boys in gymnasiums. Those mistaught youths became would-be fighters for a while; and when they hung up their gloves, they too became instructors.
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.
Loaded with an arrogance that is justified when accompanied by genius, Nadi’s contempt for the rest of the world was also driven by an intense passion for fencing. These polarized sides of Nadi impart a sense of urgency to his treatise On Fencing. Among the benefits to be derived from the foil, he lists general health, intellectual acuity, body composition, scholastic achievement, values, and character building. Simply put, “Man is how he behaves sword in hand.”16
And while Nadi was obviously driven to write On Fencing by his love for the sport, he too was alarmed by what he saw as the decline of his sport, particularly in America. “In matters of tradition and principle,” he wrote, “I fear the word compromise cannot be found in my vocabulary, let alone in my academy.”17
Like Dempsey, Nadi was frustrated by the dearth of quality teachers of his art:
What confounds the qualified teacher is that anyone, here, can proclaim himself a Fencing Master overnight, and get away with it. Many old masters must be turning in their graves; and if they could only join us for a while, they would certainly say something on the subject. The history of fencing tells us that this art was developed throughout the centuries via death and blood, and gradually mastered as a science by hundreds of scholars who devoted their entire lives to its study and research.
It appears that many American teachers take half a dozen lessons (perhaps from another self-appointed teacher), read hurriedly a treatise of most doubtful value, and quickly obtain a position at a suitable university, college, or high school. In a similar way, I might apply for a chair of higher mathematics, or surgery, in one of our universities. Instead of landing the job however, I might be