Joe Shuras
Orange Belt
Hi Marlon, John is correct, the head shots (punches) in Shaolin Kempo did not come from Kajukenbo but came from it's New England heritage. Providence, Rhode Island was one of New England's boxing mecas (the hometown of Vinny Paz) and SGM. George Pesare (founder of New England Kempo) added the boxing techniques. This is why his one school put out two PKA (Professional Karate Association) World Kickboxing champs, two United States Kickboxing champs and a New England Heavyweight Kickboxing champ. His kickboxers were not all black belts in the art but he changed this in the mid to late 70's, not sure exactly but right around there. Back in the 70's when I first began training there, he just started making it mandatory for his kickboxers to also learn and be ranked in the art of Kempo. Prior to that, he would train you in kickboxing if that was your forte and not neccessarily in the art.
Even after, his kickboxers were not all black belts in the art of Kempo. Dan Macaruso, who became legendary in the ring with the PKA (World Light heavyweight champ) was a brown belt. In the ring, he wore a black belt (b.b. in kickboxing) but back at the school when I was there, he wore a brown belt. Macaruso beat seasoned black belts and took the PKA World title from the legendary Jeff Smith. One big upset in the PKA was an event that featured Dan Macaruso (brown belt) vs. French karate legend Dominique Valera:
"In 1980 in Brussels, Belgium, Mike AndersonĀs organization put on an event that featured American Dan Macaruso vs. French karate legend Dominique Valera. Valera was the heavy favorite, and the crowd was disappointed with the outcome when the American won an easy victory over the Frenchman Valera."
Now, Nick Cerio was a George Pesare black belt. Nick came from another boxing meca of New England - Boston, Ma., where Brockton, Ma. (just outside of Boston) put out many top pros (Brockton is the hometown of Marvin Hagler), Cerio did some boxing in his youth. Now, you have Fred Villari, a Nick Cerio black belt and there's your connection to boxing - Pesare-Cerio to Villari and SKK. Let's face it Marlon, boxing is great stuff, I dabbled in it myself in college and there are stories of black belts, regardless of styles, taking a sound beating on the street from just Golden Glove boxers or less. A friend of mine, John "Dino" Dennis was the former New England heavy weight boxing champ - since retired. Dino fought two exhibition bouts with Ali, one in Providence, the other in Boston and actually had a pro fight with George Foreman. He lost but he still was in the ring with an infamous boxing legend- how many can say that? Dino was notorious on the street and was feared by many and for good reason.
Injured hands boxing on the street? Absolutely.....a close hometown friend of mine from way back (we trained together at one time), a talented boxer, won every fight he ever got into on the street but he always fractured his last knuckle, commonly referred to as a 'boxer's fracture'. Joe
