The transcript below is from the video “Joe Lewis and John Graden interview Danny Inosanto–Bruce Lee Had a Violent Temper” by The Martial Arts History Channel.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
I was…,this was…, I was still stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. I was in the paratroopers at that time. I was like three months from being discharged. I don’t know who saw you because we have a lot of transit. But I had never met Bruce Lee yet and I never met Joe Lewis, so I thought it was an interesting thing. One guy was saying the toughest guy he ever saw, the most impressive guy he ever saw was Bruce Lee. And this guy must have been a marine in Okinawa because he was on transit or something. So, maybe the toughest guy he ever saw was Joe Lewis. This is Okinawa. I guess he was stationed in Okinawa.
Interviewer:
I was in Okinawa.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
But I just thought because I didn’t know you and I didn’t know Bruce Lee at that time.
Interviewer:
He said he had seen Bruce Lee in Okinawa?
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
No, he saw Bruce Lee in Seattle.
Interviewer:
Seattle.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
In Seattle, Washington.
Interviewer:
Wow.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
I think Bruce came here in 1950. I would say 1958 or 1959.
Interviewer:
Now, I’ve heard a lot of descriptions of Bruce through the years. That’s the first, I think, the word “tough”.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
Yeah, he’s tough.
Interviewer:
That’s interesting.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
He has a temper. He has a temper! He has a violent temper. Violent temper. If you…, he didn’t like to be touched. He would just go crazy. So the guy he fought that he beat in a boxing match in Hong Kong, he is not a stylish boxer. He would not be like a Sugar Ray Leonard. If I classified him, he would be like a miniature Joe Frazier, and he would be more like a Roberto Duran, but not the form of Duran, because he was just kind of a sluggard too. That’s funny, because for his size, you would think he’d be a technician.
Interviewer:
Yeah.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
But when he really got into it, he was like Joe Frazier. If you watch him hit the heavy bag, because I’ve been around boxing, it’s not the stylish, polished guy working on a heavy bag. It’s just like a guy who’s just really upset about something, you know.
Interviewer:
Yeah. I’ve watched those videos.
Interviewer:
Every shot is a slam.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
Absolutely. He was. When he played with me, he could be very finesse, because I was not in his league. But when he really wanted to come to me, he knocked me, not out but, you know, sort of days now on my 28th birthday. It’s really funny. He says, “Come on, let’s spar.” I go, “Sure.” And he just, usually he plays. But this one, he sort of just went after me, and just knocked the bread basket. I was lying on the ground like this, and he was just laughing. I go, “Why is he laughing?” And he goes, “Wayne, bring out the birthday cake.” And they brought out this birthday cake, and he sang to me Happy Birthday. That’s good. He’s gonna knock you out on your 28th birthday or 29th birthday I think, I forgot. See, he just thought that was really funny.
Interviewer:
Was that a free spar?
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
Free spar, yes. He liked that. Like I said I’m not, I was not in his class.
Interviewer:
I only saw his spar one time down at Chinatown school. He did Shotokan in street clothes against Herb Jackson. Herb was trying to use Jeet Kune Do. That was funny as hell. I had that on tape.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
Oh, he liked to imitate Shotokan.
Interviewer:
Yeah, totally.
Dan Inosanto (American Martial Arts Instructor & Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
And strong with it. He’s strong with his timing, not necessarily the structure. He used to think some structure would give better, conducive form better…
