My absolute favourite fighter of that era which does to association differences I never got to meet on the Kumite mat. Awesome speed , agility and technical intelligence. Listen to him talk and you see why he was excellent . An articulate and intelligent man . Intellect ads a new dimension to a fighters ability . The quickness of thought and seeing opportunities others won’t . Everyone was focused on Frank Brennan - which is understandable - but Elwyn was closer to today’s athletes in combat fighting . George Best was another genius. I’ve trained alongside Kagawa in 1990 and he was absolute mustard fast . Deceptive as you could ever imagine. Best owned him . That’s how good he was . Amazing golden era of karate . Ruined by politics . For me this is Kumite and not what WKF offers now , which is in my view pathetic with silly rules . I doubt the very best in WKF would have dealt with either Elwyn or George in their prime . Would he have done well in MMA . I don’t know as it’s a different dimension with grappling and boxing moves , but I’m certain he would have been far better then a lot including Machida . 🥋🙏🇬🇧
Kata is "an end in itself". It's the guys who "perfect" it, that make it a better "training method" for the kumite. Karate is a community, even tho "the fight" is "personal".
I have a sincere question; on which rules were mr. Hall competing? As the videos are sort of old, I can't identify if it's jka, wkf, jks etc... considering that those institutions are considerably new, except jka. Thanks in advance.
As a first Dan, yeah, Karate is a joke on average. It's watered down daycare for the majority of the world. Full contact dojos are not the norm. I train at the only one in my entire state as far as I'm aware.
I left in “89, it just got worse & worse. Had 14 great years with being graded with Enoeda & 1 grading with Tomita. You’re very lucky to have found a good club. Enjoy 👊👊
today , karate is not what it was back in the days when most japanease senseis were teaching , now many ridiculous Dojos ,have not any dojo etiquette or peotocol . disturbing in martial arts ..even Racists . black belts given today is like a blue belt back then ..training very hard to achieve .. went to see a course by sensei vickerman , appalling poor training .useless techniques that may compromise your safety and dangerous . close that dojo down ..
Couldn’t agree more. I stopped in “89, I graded with Enoeda & Tomita, & finished with Mick Dewey. It was really hard but afterwards when you passed you felt like you earned it. Too many fake clubs out now with stupid rules. I watched a grading only last week, they’ve trimmed it down & made it easier. People are kidding themselves now. I did it for 14 years.
