Karl Beattie, the current World Traditional Full Contact Martial Arts Champion, has a phenomenal fight record: 85 official fights, 75 knockouts and no (yes NO) defeats. He remains the only world champion in any sporting arena with such an impressive record.
He started training at the age of seven after asking his parents for a pen knife, to which they said, "no!" A friend at school mentioned that if he went to 'Cub Scouts', he would be issued one as apart of the uniform.
After his first night he was leaving the Scout Hall and heard some shouting coming from a little tin hut, he went to look inside and saw, what he describes as, "...a small man moving from side to side with so much power yet so much grace, I knew that no matter what else I did in my life, I had to do that......".
That man was the legendary Otsu Maeda, who was to become Karl's instructor and mentor forging a close bond that remained until Maeda's death in 1997.
"After going home that night..." Karl explains, "... I couldn't wait until the next week, when it finally came I waved goodbye to Mum and Dad, but instead of going to Cubs, I went next door, I walked in an went straight up to the man I had seen the previous week and introduced myself, he responded by hitting me so hard I fell backward with tears streaming from my eyes, but without openly crying, I think it was the shock as I had never been hit before, I was wondering what on earth I could have done wrong when a student approached me, stood me up and said that I was not worthy of speaking to an instructor and it was bad etiquette.
I remember thinking well, I've got two choices, I can go home and pretend it never happened, or train until I was worthy of this man. I opted to train."
As he trained he did get the respect he sought culminating in obtaining the title of World Champion in what is, without doubt the toughest fighting arena in the world.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS:
Karl, how does it feel to be a World Champion?
Well, that's a hard one to answer. Maeda is really the Champ, because he taught me everything I know. He took a skinny little kid and made a World Champ out of him. If I had any other instructor or trained any other way I wouldn't have done it.
Would you say that your style of Martial Art is the best?
No, absolutely not. Every style of Martial Art is good, you have to pick the right one for you. I trained under Maeda with 100% dedication, I never questioned what he was teaching or how he taught it. Too many students this day and age want quick results, which you don't get in traditional training, we all seem to want to get our next belt colour, it's not the belt that makes you worthy, you have to be worthy to wear the belt. If we went back to just having white and black belts I think training would be more intense and only serious students would train.
Would you say that the world title was your greatest achievement in Martial Arts?
No, my greatest achievement was seeing Maeda smile after we had won it.
You say "we had won it "what do you mean?
Maeda is the real champ he deserves all the credit, if a car is made to go fast is the car or the person who made it that gets the credit? Maeda made me into the World Champion, I only did what he taught me to do.
Did you know much about your opponent, Tiju Fukura, before the fight?
As a rule I never find out anything about my opponents before a fight, it makes no difference how big, small or fast they are, I am going to fight them anyway and I always fight with 100% effort whether it be in a ring on the international fight scene or in a Dojo just sparring. With Fukura it was different as he was a bit of a hero, he had never been beaten and to most of us was he greatest fighter of our time. I only fought him to find out what he could teach me, the possibility of beating him never entered my mind.
Did the fight go as planned?
I didn't really have a plan, I was the European the Champion when Maeda told me that Tiju Fukura, the World Champ, had made a statement that he was the best fighter of all time, and wanted to prove it by bringing the "best" fighters from all other countries to travel to Japan and fight each other, the winner was to have opportunity to fight him. I travelled to Japan under my own steam, when I arrived I met the other fighters, it was great to have all these nationalities coming together with the love of one thing, Martial Arts. It was funny that all these countries some at war with each other were united by their dedication, swapping techniques and philosophies.....fantastic! I did feel slightly let down as all the other fighters had government backing, I had none, all the other fighters had been in Japan for three or four weeks, I travelled out the day before my first fight as I couldn't afford any longer. I remember miscalculating my hotel bill, I was told my bill would be £280.00, I thought that was for the three nights I needed, but it turned out that it was £280.00 per night. So I had to take two illegal fights on my day off to rise the cash for my stay. I remember after I had got through the initial fights, I was filled with great excitement at the opportunity of fighting Fukura.
How long did the fight last?
Not quite four rounds, I knocked him out two minutes into the forth.
Did either of you sustain any injuries?
Yes, my rib was broken and I broke his jaw and nose.
How did you feel when you lifted your World Championship belt?
I can remember the moment that the referee counted 'ten', I looked at Maeda and for the first time in my life saw an uncontrollable smile, I thought, yes I've done it, I've made him proud. There were a few servicemen there that cheered me on throughout the fight so when I was given my belt I went over to their side of the ring and lifted it up to them, they went mad, it was great, I don't know who they were but I can never thank them enough and often think about them, if you're out there .........Thanks Guys.
Have you ever used your capabilities out side the ring?
I don't believe in violence, but I wouldn't hesitate to help someone in trouble or to defend my family and friends. After the title fight, with the newspaper coverage, I had several people wanting to push me into a fight in the street, something I will never lower myself to do, it wouldn't be fair to an untrained fighter. I've even had a rather fat policemen wanting to fight me once, that was quite comical, as he was clearly in no shape to fight a cold let alone a world champion, when these things happen you think to yourself, I could tweak a nerve an render you unconscious within a 10th of a second, but they don't know that. So you just have to put up with these sad individuals every now and then, they are all cowards who feel so insignificant that they have a need to prove their manhood, whereas a real man doesn't have to, if you hit them you end up in court and don't have a prayer, if you let them hit you they run round bad mouthing martial arts. It's a situation I can only win by walking away.
Do you have any regrets?
My only regret is the death of my beloved Otsu Maeda Sensei the greatest bujin to live. He died suddenly of a heart attack, the shock was to great to mention. I don't think I'll ever truly get over his loss.
Thankyou for your time Karl.
Karl-Thankyou for your interest.
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