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How many Boxing fans are aware that Bruce Lee won an amateur Boxing tournament in 1958 in Hong Kong? According to Bruce Lee's biography he beat an English student for the championship.
In high school, Bruce, now no longer a weak child, was beginning to hone his body through hard training. One of his accomplishments was winning an interschool Boxing Championship against an English student in which the Marquis of Queensbury rules were followed and no kicking was allowed.
Some Bruce Lee critics and haters claim that there is no evidence that Gary Elms exists. There's no picture of him or record of his Boxing exploits yet he was a 3-time champion in high school. The only eye witness account I can find besides William Cheung, who trained Bruce Lee for the fight, is a man named Rolf Clausnitzer who says in an interview that he was a classmate of Gary Elms, knew Bruce Lee and saw the fight.
DP: So, how was their match together? As an eyewitness, what can you say about the fight?
RC: His bout with Bruce turned out to be the most amazing and bizarre boxing match I have ever seen and expect to see. I honestly believe that Gary did not land even one single scoring punch throughout the entire 3 x 1 minute rounds, with Bruce deflecting and taking all of Gary's punches on his arms. Gary was knocked down several times, but he was not knocked out (contrary to what has been reported in various articles and books!) and, even more surprisingly, he did not appear to be hurt or distressed. Each time he was floored, he would immediately jump back up. That's why the referee did not stop the fight. Notwithstanding Gary's extraordinary toughness, I was amazed to see him survive the bout in such good shape. It was not until later when I caught up with Frank that some sort of explanation emerged.
DP: Do you recall what your brother Frank told you about this?
RC: Apparently, when Frank and his friends went to congratulate Bruce after the bout, Bruce was shaking his head and looking far from pleased with himself. His reply to Frank's obvious question was something along the lines of, "Damn it, I couldn't knock the guy out". His rationalisation was that the large (16oz?) gloves neutralised the intended, penetrating effect of tilting the wrist on impact, a practice common to many Wing Chun practitioners (I gather he abandoned this practice in later years). He reckoned that this force was not penetrating the padding and, in any case, Gary was already being propelled backwards from the pushing impact of the glove. He swore that he would continue training until he could achieve the penetration he wanted. He also had his sights set on Peter Burton, a stylish and hard punching boxer from St George's School (which was exclusively for the children of British Armed Forces personnel in Hong Kong), a much bigger and heavier competitor who had TKO'd his opponent in the second round. By the way, Frank and I met Peter (who turned out to be half German as well) at a party a few weeks later and we talked about Bruce, but it's unlikely that such a bout would ever have been approved because of the weight and size differences and, in any case, Bruce left for the USA a few months later to begin a new chapter in his amazing life.
I would like to see if some Boxing historians from this website can verify the existence of Gary Elms. This is the only known situation where Bruce Lee is said to have fought in competition so it is an interesting historical topic.
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