Bill Wallace

If We Knew Then What We Know Now!

- Floyd Burk

Bill Wallace is a true living legend, a man who’s regarded as  the world’s greatest kicker by nearly everyone in the martial  arts community. “Superfoot” is universally respected for his  professional full-contact karate record, in which he amassed 23 consecutive victories before retiring undefeated. He’s also perhaps the most popular martial arts instructor in the world — and has been for decades. What’s more, he accomplished all that despite suffering a potentially devastating knee injury that forced him to adopt an unorthodox sideways-facing combat stance early in his career.

Those are some of the reasons for this martial arts truism: When Wallace talks, people listen. That observation prompted Black Belt to devise a list of frequently heard statements about the arts, many of which stem from the early days when everyone talked about karate but no one had ever done it, and submit them to Super foot for analysis. The beneficiary of the exchange is the martial arts newcomer who may be tempted exchange is the martial arts newcomer who may be tempted to believe such things, as well as the old hand who likely heard them decades ago but never subjected them to critical thinking. In either case, enjoy.

A karate practitioner can easily kick a knife out of the hand of an assailant.

Bull tuckey. What if you miss? A knife fighter isn't going to show you the knife in the first place, If a guy does show the knife and you’re far enough away to kick his hand, turn and high tail it out of there.

The martial arts will enable a 90-pound person with training to defeat anyone who hasn’t trained.

I’m not buying that one. A good big man will beat a good little man every time. This is because the big man has the weight, power and movement to do so.