KUNG FU - YIP MAN 4

Tournament Challenge Fight

In another incident, Yip Man was noted for his competence in a duel with a boxer by the name of Kam Shan Mao from Kianghsi Province in Northern China. Kam arrived in Futshan and asked for the post of instructor in the Ching Wu Athletic Association of Futshan. He boasted of his own skill and degraded the standard of the martial artists of Futshan. The directors of the Ching Wu Athletic Association were reluctant to accept him. Nevertheless, he was invited to take part in a tournament, to be held in the Futshan Theatre, in which he was to fight the famous Yip Man. Yip Man at first refused to take part in such a public fight with this stranger, but at the earnest request of Lee Kwong Hoi, a famous herbalist physician of Futshan, he eventually agreed to the fight.
On the day of the tournament the spectators flocked to the theatre where the fight was to be held. To the disappointment of all, Kam was knocked down by Yip Man already in the first minute of the fight. The disappointed spectators became furious and restless, and disturbances at the scene would be inevitable it seemed. They were calmed down only by the fight-organiser offering them some instant boxing shows by a few other pugilists present at the scene.

Fight in an Opium Den

The second time Yip Man fought for the fame of the Kung Fu circle of Futshan was in a duel with a comedian of the Red Boat Opera troupe. The groupe was at that time visiting Futshan. When the opera was not performing or when the show was over, the comedian of the troupe used to frequent a smoking den (a place where the people of Futshan could legally smoke opium). Non-smokers also used it as a meeting place. Whenever the comedian of the troupe went into the smoking den, he used to boast about his own Kung Fu skills. Once he even demonstrated his 'Phoenix-Eye Fist' in front of the smokers making a hole into the wall with just one punch. It was there that Yip Man encountered this man. The man, proud of his skills, insisted on having a fight with Yip Man who refused to accept the challenge. The fight would never have happened if it was not for the persistent urging of the meddlesome onlookers. To their surprise, Yip Man put his opponent on the floor with only one punch, giving him a bleeding nose.
The spectators cheered Yip Man and asked how he could win the fight so easily. Yip Man told them that, although the man was powerful with his 'Phoenix-Eye Fist' but that he had little knowledge of martial techniques used in fighting. That was why the man lost the fight.

Stage Fight as a Favour to a Friend in Need

Another story tells us of an associate of Yip Man by the nickname of Charlie Wan who was badly in need of a large sum of money. Charlie Wan was a pugilist of the Choy Lee Fut style noted for its practical fighting skills, but quite different from those of Wing Chun Kuen. Though they were friends they never discussed martial art techniques, nor did they ever argue over the art of Kung Fu. For this reason, the meddlesome citizens of Futshan did not know, but were eager to find out, which of the two was the better fighter. One of them had thought out a way to test them at last - that was to hold a contest between the two of them for fund-raising purposes. This would, in the first place, attract and satisfy large crowds of Kung Fu enthusiasts and secondly, would serve to meet the monetary needs of Charlie Wan. Charlie Wan at first refused this suggestion, thinking that this would impair the friendship between Yip Man and himself. However for the sake of easing his own needy situation, he finally agreed to the contest with the stipulation that there should be a suitable go-between to arrange it. This problem was taken care of by Lee Kwong Hoi, who agreed to arrange the fight and be the judge. Yip Man had no objection to this at all, thinking this would not only solve his friend's problem but also promote the art of Kung Fu in Futshan. For increased publicity, Yip Man even suggested that he would be blind-folded during the fight. This really stirred up much talk about the tournament, and the people of Futshan became very anxious to know how this man who had knocked down Kam Shan Mao in the first minute, would fight when he was blind-folded. Some feared that Yip Man's chance of winning was very slim.

On the day of the fight, spectators poured into the area. At the order of Lee Kwong Hoi, the judge, the two pugilist began their bout. Charlie Wan took the offensive at the very beginning, while Yip Man, well trained in detecting the intentions of his opponent by the feeling of his bridge-arms, remained in constant contact with his opponent. Though the attacks of Charlie Wan were fierce and powerful, yet Yip Man managed to dissolve them one by one, and very often succeeded in chasing his opponent and rendering counter attacks. In this way they exchanged punches and kicks to the great satisfaction of all the onlookers. At last the clever Lee Kwong Hoi, fearing that one of them would inevitably be wounded in the end, declared a stop to the fight. So the fight ended in a draw amidst a hail of cheers from the spectators.