Western Boxing can be even more lethal when combined with pressure points
     James J.Corbett
     Bob Fritzsimmons
     Kid Gavilan
     Kid McCoy
     Bob Foster
     Joe Louis
     Rocky Marciano
     Sugar Ray Robinson
Wei Kuen Do
Thoughts on Knockout Punching
Accuracy

 Leo Fong a Methodist Minister, Filmmaker, Fitness Coach, Martial Artist, and Founder of Wei Kuen Do. In the issue Leo being an avid boxing enthusiast and in fact in his younger days a very good boxer, talks about his thoughts on boxing, Let us start at the beginning and learn how Leo got into martial arts and how boxing became a part of his life and also a part of his art.
 His martial arts journey began at the age of 7 years old on his first day of school. Being the only Asian in school, a group of students surrounded him at recess and began to sing racial slurs at him. When he returned home, his father asked him, “How was school?” Young Fong replied, “Great! Everybody likes me. They even sang to me.” The father asked, “What did they sing?” He replied, “Ching-chong Chinaman.” The father turned red in the face and said to Leo, “They don’t like you. Don’t you know they are making fun of your racial heritage?” Next day at recess, the playground teacher organized a softball game and Leo was designated to play first base. One of the kids hit a single and ended up on first base. He looked at Leo and remarked, “Chink!” Without hesitation Leo punched him in the nose, knocking him to the ground. The playground teacher grabbed Fong by the neck, spanked him and sent him to the office where he had to stand in the hall for two days while the other students taunted him.
 Unlike his cousins who dropped out of school because of racial intimidation, Leo choose to remain in school and fight. As he encountered other bullies, Leo developed an affinity to fighting which landed him in the principal’s office regularly. During this time, there were no martial arts schools in Arkansas so Leo sought out the American fighting style - Western Boxing. At the age of 12, he bought a boxing book, “The Fundamental of Boxing” by Barney Ross, the former world welterweight champion.
 Leo read the book from cover to cover and then he hung a pillow in his room as a punching bag and proceeded to follow the instructions in the book. The instructions he practiced from the Barney Ross book helped him refine his punching skills and he was able to defend himself quite effectively. He learned early on from the instructions in the book that the left jab and left hook were very effective punches. Bullies who came to him with racist attitude and aggressive wild swings were destined to be knocked out by jabs and hooks. He learned early that a left jab could set up for a left hook or a right cross and with those three punches Leo Fong prevailed against school ground bullies. He had his first formal boxing match at the age of l5 years old and while he lost a close decision, he learned much from fighting in front of an audience. After graduating from High School, Leo enrolled in Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas to study for the ministry. It was at Hendrix he joined the boxing team and received his first formal boxing lessons from an old professional fighter by the name of Kirby “KO” Donoho. In his first year of competition Leo won 7 of his first 8 fights and he scored 5 first round knockouts - all with his left hook.
 In his second year in college, Hendrix College decided to disband its boxing and wrestling programs but the local National Guard Unit in Conway, Arkansas invited Leo to join their team. Leo won 5 fights that year with Company G, and also reached the Finals of the Arkansas State AAU Tournament. Leo scored one of the quickest knockouts of the tournament in his quarterfinal fight. He won the second fight by a decision and lost a close decision in the finals to a boxer he had beaten previously in college competition. After his 1950 AAU Tournament competition, Leo continued to compete in three other events; two college tournaments of which he won both by knockouts and the Southwestern AAU Tournament. At the Southwestern he scored a first round knockout, won on a forfeit and was knocked out in the finals. It was after the knockout that Leo decided to retire from competition. The following summer Leo was hired by the Dallas Board of City Missions of the United Methodist Church to work as an athletic director at Rankin Chapel in West Dallas, Texas. He developed a very strong boxing team at Rankin and some of the members won regional championships in their first year in competition even though none of the boxers had any boxing experiences before Leo’s arrival at the center.
 So now let us see what Leo has to say about some of the old time knockout puncher’s in boxing and what he got from them and what he has developed personally and for his art of Wei Kuen Do.

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