Originally Posted by
Trainer Monkey
He wrote a manual on boxing in 1940,that discusses the importance of balance,it was his writings on that aspect of the sport that would be a huge influence on the younger Bruce Lee
It wasn't a discussion on balance per say, it was aboxing manual that covered everything from punches, stance, counters/sequences and some nuances that are no longer taught today. Anyways Edwin L. Haislet was a boxing coach that trained golden gloves fighters and over the years had gathered what he new and wrote a boxing manual on it.
His book didn't influence a younger Bruce Lee either. Bruce Lee in the beginning was brought up in Wing Chun. He was very analytical and was interested in many books, practitioners, and different media covering the martial arts. As he grew older he began to phase away from Wing Chun forms and began incorporating a lot of boxing methods, even studying fights by Ali, Willy Pep, an other fighters. There's no point in making a discussion our of it.
He was no innovator or original thinker, but I believe he was objective enough as to see things as an original observer. In otherwords, asking the right questions and trying finding all the right answers.
He quoted Haislet's print almost word by word, along with copying the words of Jack Dempsey from Dempsey's manual and everything else that suited his interests. Fencing has a lot of applications that are suitable for boxing. Although much of the moves are different, some of the methods and tactics still apply. Example feinting to provoke a parry and preceding to counter, control of the distance/pace, and the tempo/cadence/rhythem these are things that great fighters like Pep, Ali, and other great fighters have found on their own. Bruce Lee was able to find it, it's not burried you can find them out for yourself. The moves and techniques are meaningless, knowing isn't enough as understanding them and being able to apply them on a moment's notice.
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