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I always wondered why they didn't do some stand up fighting in that video.
They were both into Wing Chun at the time of the video.
Or was it exactly like I thought last time? That they didn't or rather couldn't apply their Wing Chun in a brawler type situation?
What's your take on that folks?
The true story? As I understand Emin was under Ting's organization at that time and was there by his own admission to challenge Cheung. He challenged William Cheung to a "fight" before the Seminar and it was agreed to be a spar after. During the seminar Emin challenged Cheung who said "no but I'll spar after the seminar." Emin got pissy, Cheung went back to teaching his seminar, Emin then bum rushed Cheung mid talk. If you told people you were going to "challenge" someone, got rebuffed and then bum rushed them would you want the bum rush on film? At the same time I could see someone with more than a little pride like Emin clearly has (broke with his master bitterly over $$$, then his master's master Leung Ting over the same, claimed to have come out unscathed and victorious from 370 street fights, including those where the other guy had a gun) would say "well a true master should be ready for anything!"
I base this not only on things said by various people but also some logic. As far as I know that is the only video of the event that survives AND when it was first released it even had after the fact narration that amounted to "Emin beats this guy!!!" If someone was interested in releasing a true and full account we would have the whole thing. If it was to be "full and true" why would one of the first released not only be edited footage but with partisan narration?
Now maybe it's a coincidence and the person who got a hold of it did all of that editing without Emin's knowledge but was an Emin fan. I even read an interview with Emin in a magazine "back in the day" where he claimed the video was edited purposefully to make HIM look bad since it does give credence to the ambush claim itself, and it appears that he can't land a solid punch on another guy who is sliding in shoes not suited for a basketball court. I don't find Emin's rationalization very likely however.
Now admittedly maybe my job makes me a bit more sensitive to such edited videos with narration to try and paint them to be something else. Still remember one where a cop dropped rubber gloves he was trying to put on to render first aid to a suspect. The "narrator", who was using his cellphone to film a YouTube video, to go on YouTube, was describing an obvious nitrile gloves flopping to the ground was a gun being dropped.
Edit:
My conclusion is Emin did ambush Cheung. What is up for debate is whether or not the video was released with Emin "in the loop" or not. His later interview could be due to the fact that he knew it made him look at least as bad (if not worse than) Cheung to those who know martial arts. It could also be him doing spin control upon hindsight finally kicking in and letting him no just how bad that video looks all around.
That said one take away from the video we can all learn from. Terrain is everything and wear footware appropriate to it if their may be a fight.
