I bet you didn’t. I bet if you don’t like martial arts movies, you didn’t know this. I bet if you are Gen Z, you didn’t know this. Well, even though it was just in a movie, and that movie was titled The Way of the Dragon (1972), aka Return of the Dragon in the US, this fight scene was one of the most anticipated, iconic “karate scenes” in action movies ever.
The film grossed over HK$5.3 million at the Hong Kong box office, beating previous records set by Lee’s own films, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, making it the highest-grossing film of 1972 in Hong Kong. The film went on to gross an estimated $130 million US worldwide. It is this film that is credited with launching Chuck into stardom, hairy back and all.
And while Bruce Lee was considered the “Big Boss” and most people’s favorite, Chuck Norris at that time was no slouch. His credentials were serious, especially for an American in martial arts.
In November of 1968, Chuck won the Professional Middleweight Karate Championship, a title he held for six consecutive years. In April of 1968, he successfully defended his All‑American Karate Championship title in a round‑robin tournament at the Karate Tournament of Champions of North America. He won the All‑American Championship again later that year and retired from the competition undefeated. It was at this time that Norris met Bruce Lee, and the two developed a friendship as well as a training and working relationship.
In August 1969, Norris defended his world championship title at the International Karate Championship, which featured competitors from the US and several foreign countries. He retained the title, won Karate’s triple crown for the most tournament victories of the year, and was named Fighter of the Year by Black Belt magazine.
I (Treez) of SFL.media, felt that, in the wake of Chuck’s passing, it was only right to show off who this man was on the screen. After the martial arts phase, he went on to become a huge action star in Hollywood. He went on to become Walker, Texas Ranger, which lasted 9 seasons on TV. And then he became the pitchman for Total Gym, which sold thousands and thousands of units.
So while Chuck doesn’t win the fight against Bruce in the video I included, fear not. Something tells me that there is a rematch in Heaven ready to go down between the two. And in the rematch, I have a feeling that Chuck kicks Bruce’s ass!
