The following transcript below is from the video “Joe Lewis and John Graden interview Danny Inosanto–Bruce Lee was Tough” by John Graden
John Graden:
This was the first time the two legends ever met or spoke to each other. Shot in Diana Inosanto and Rob Balicki’s apartment in Los Angeles in preparation for the Joe Lewis book, “How to Master Bruce Lee’s Fighting System” published by John Graden.
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and 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 just like 3 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 you ever saw, and most impressive guy you ever saw was Bruce Lee.” And this guy must have been a marine in Okinawa because he was on transit or something. So toughest guy ever, so this guy named, Joe Lewis. This is Okinawa. I guess, he was stationed in Okinawa.”
Interviewer:
“I was in Okinawa.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“But I just thought… because I didn’t even know you and I didn’t know Bruce Lee at that time period.”
Interviewer:
“He said, he had seen Bruce Lee in Okinawa?”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“No. He saw Bruce Lee in Seattle.”
Interviewer:
“Seattle.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“In Seattle, Washington.”
Interviewer:
“Wow.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“I think, Bruce came here in 50… I would say 58’ or 59’.”
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 (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“Yeah, he’s tough.”
Interviewer:
“That’s interesting.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and 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 liked 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 (Martial Arts Instructor and 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.”
Interviewer:
“Yeah. I’ve watched those videos.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“Did you see it?”
Interviewer:
“Every shot is a slam.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“He’s just power, power, power.”
Interviewer:
“Power, power, power.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and 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… 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’m not sure. See, he just thought hat was really funny.”
Interviewer:
“Was that a free spar?”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“Free spar, yes. He liked that. [inaudible 3:05] said, “I was not in his class.””
Interviewer:
“I only saw his spar one time down at Chinatown school. He did Shotokan in three close against Herb Jackson. Herb was strongly using Jake Kimbell, as funny as hell. I like had that on tape.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“Oh, he liked to imitate Shotokan.”
Interviewer:
“Yeah, totally.”
Dan Inosanto (Martial Arts Instructor and Training Partner of Bruce Lee):
“And strong with it. He’s strong with his timing, not necessarily the structure. [Inaudible 3:33] some structure give better conducive for better…”
