Though some say Bruce Lee bested kung fu master Wong Jack Man during their 1964 duel in Oakland, the outcome remains disputed to this day.
David Livingston/Getty ImagesWong Jack Man (left) and actor Philip Ng, who plays Bruce Lee, attend the premiere of Birth of the Dragon. The film is loosely based on the famous Bruce Lee vs. Wong Jack Man fight. August 17, 2017.
San Francisco’s Chinatown in the early 1960s was something of a mecca for young martial artists looking to be at the forefront of the fighting culture. The burgeoning martial arts community served as a formative teaching ground for many artists on the cutting edge.
The fighting culture in the Bay Area was so attractive that a young Bruce Lee decided to move from Seattle to Oakland to open his second Jun Fan martial arts studio. Of course, Lee was not the only person to seek opportunity here. At the same time, another well-respected, though lesser known today, martial artist named Wong Jack Man was also operating the Jun Fang Gung Institute, where he taught Wing Chun, concept-based martial art used for close-quarters self-defense.
When the two martial artists clashed in 1964, it should have been a fight for the ages, but instead the match is mired in controversy. Fought privately in front of a small crowd, the exact events of the showdown between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man remain a mystery. Spectators, and the two fighters, have each put forth differing versions of the story — some claiming that Lee had won, others claiming that Wong had been the victor.
Even today, their fight remains controversial, and the truth about what really happened that day remains a mystery.
The Story Behind Bruce Lee And Wong Jack Man’s Rivalry
Although the two men had no prior history, around 1964 a rivalry emerged between them. It’s unclear what, exactly, the cause of this disagreement was.
Some rumors swirled, claiming that Wong Jack Man disapproved of the number of non-Chinese students Lee’s studio had attracted. Wong, presumably a traditionalist, was allegedly opposed to teaching martial arts to white folk. In this version of events, Wong issued a challenge to Lee with the ultimatum that should Lee lose their match he would shut down his studio.
Wikimedia CommonsWong Jack Man, the martial artist who faced off against Bruce Lee in 1964.
Others, however, claim that Lee had been the one to issue the challenge. According to this version of the story, Lee was so confident in his ability that he publicly proclaimed he could best any other martial artist in San Francisco. Wong, rising to the challenge, offered to fight Lee — and reportedly wanted the fight to be public. Lee, on the other hand, would only agree to a private match, and so the two men faced off with just a handful of people in attendance.
While various accounts place between seven to 15 people at the fight, only three attendees could ever be confirmed: Lee’s wife Linda Lee Cadwell, his studio associate James Lee, and William Chen, a local Tai Chi instructor.
However, because the fight happened behind closed doors, there are several contradicting accounts of what really happened.
The Bruce Lee Vs. Wong Jack Man Fight: What Really Happened?
According to Linda Lee’s version of Bruce Lee vs. Wong Jack Man in her book Bruce Lee: The Only Man I Knew, Lee won the fight within five minutes:
“The two came out, bowed formally and then began to fight. Wong adopted a classic stance whereas Bruce, who at the time was still using his Wing Chun style, produced a series of straight punches. Within a minute, Wong’s men were trying to stop the fight as Bruce began to warm to his task. James Lee warned them to let the fight continue.
A minute later, with Bruce continuing the attack in earnest, Wong began to backpedal as fast as he could. For an instant, indeed, the scrap threatened to degenerate into a farce as Wong Jack Man actually turned and ran. But Bruce pounced on him like a springing leopard and brought him to the floor where he began pounding him into a state of demoralization. ‘Is that enough?’ shouted Bruce, ‘That’s enough!’ pleaded his adversary. Bruce demanded a second reply to his question to make sure that he understood this was the end of the fight.”
TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy Stock PhotoBruce Lee in a promotional shot for The Way of the Dragon.
Wong Jack Man, however, recounted a different version of events. His account, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, he stated that Lee came out as aggressively as a “wild bull.” He was sure Lee “would never say he lost until you killed him,” so Wong chose to fight mostly defensively, not wanting to face the consequences of a life-threatening fight.
He claimed that the fight lasted at least 20 minutes and petered out as a result of Lee becoming winded, rather than either one of them delivering a definitive fight-ending blow.
William Chen, who favors a more traditional fighting style and martial art, regarded the Bruce Lee vs. Wong Jack Man fight as a tie. In a version more closely aligned with Wong’s account than with Linda’s, he also recalled Lee’s aggressive nature in the fight, compared to Wong’s more restrained style. He agreed that the fight lasted around 20 to 25 minutes, and definitely did not end with Wong pleading for relief.
Although the real events of the match of Bruce Lee vs. Wong Jack Man will always remain a controversial mystery to everyone except the handful of eyewitnesses, most people agree that it had a large impact on Lee.
How The Fight Against Wong Jack Man Changed The Course Of Bruce Lee’s Career
Victory or not, the fight served as a catalyst for the icon to reform his entire approach to fighting and led him to develop his own more practical style, Jeet Kune Do, which combined elements of wing chun, taekwondo, wrestling, fencing, and Western boxing.
In an interview with Black Belt Magazine, Lee recounted the fight without naming Wong explicitly:
“I’d gotten into a fight in San Francisco (a reference, no doubt, to the Bay Area rather than the city) with a Kung-Fu cat, and after a brief encounter the son-of-a-bitch started to run. I chased him and, like a fool, kept punching him behind his head and back. Soon my fists began to swell from hitting his hard head. Right then I realized Wing Chun was not too practical and began to alter my way of fighting.”
Collection Christophel/Alamy Stock PhotoBruce Lee died on July 20, 1973, due to a cerebral oedema after having a negative reaction to Equagesic.
Wong Jack Man, for his part, mostly remained silent about the fight — that is, until Lee started to boast publicly about his victor. Shortly after Lee gave his interview, Wong wrote and published his own account of the fight, adding another challenge to Lee should he find Wong’s version of events untruthful. In the end, though, Wong told Official Karate magazine, “If I had to do it over, I wouldn’t.”
He did, however, contest Linda Lee’s assertion that he wanted to fight Bruce due to his teaching caucasians. In fact, Wong noted that his school was one of the first in San Francisco to open its doors to all students.
Still, even those around Lee noticed a change in him after the fight.
“The Wong Jack Man fight also caused Bruce to intensify his training methods,” she wrote. “From that date, he began to seek out more and more sophisticated and exhaustive training methods… but in general the new forms of training meant that Bruce was always doing something, always training some part of his body or keeping it in condition.”
Whether that was to Bruce Lee’s benefit or not is another discussion entirely, but it is clear that his famous showdown against Wong Jack Man left a resounding impact on his life — for better or worse.
Now that you’ve read about the legendary fight of Bruce Lee vs. Wong Jack Man, check out these Bruce Lee quotes that will change your life. Then check out these Bruce Lee photos that show his life and career.
