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Pain is Temporary, film is forever!
Real fighters take the knocks for Sucker Punch the movie.
Many films boast of having real fighters in their cast, to boost
its publicity, but in some ways it is a bit of a smokescreen because
these fighters are so heavily insured that doing something that
might actually hurt them is often out of the question. The result
being that they look ponderous and cumbersome. Not so with Sucker
Punch, where our real fighters were willing to go that extra mile
to make sure that the fight scenes looked totally believable and
if that meant taking the odd knock or bruise they were prepared
to do this without complaint, as long as we got the shot.
That’s not to say that we weren’t safety
conscious, we were, Gordon Alexander is a brilliant and meticulous
choreographer and safety is his number one priority but in the heat
of the action, these real fighters were so committed to making it
look real and selling the hits that they were constantly telling
each other to go for it more, no matter how many takes it took,
with a true British Bulldog spirit. The result is some of the most
hardcore action ever seen in a British movie with some of our toughest
fighters showing why they are true fighting champions.
We have Cage Rage Featherweight champion Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett
taking an arm bar onto the hard ground at least twenty times, shot
from various angles, without even breaking sweat, whilst professional
wrestler and television celebrity Chris ‘Flatliner’ Mann takes a
‘bump’ onto the concrete floor for Gordon Alexander on multiple
occasions in the film’s opening fight scene.
Karate fighters have never received the recognition
they deserve but this film is set to rectify this situation with
three of Karate’s finest showcasing their talent in major fight
scenes. Paul Newby and Matt Price feature in an electrifying two
on one fight against Gordon Alexander in the mid-section of the
movie, the pace and intensity of the fight testament to all three’s
stamina. Matt is a genuine strong man with a down to earth no-nonsense
attitude and a top competitor in the modern Karate World.
An interview with Matt Price
When you look at Matt Price now, one of Karate’s most respected
and fearsome competitors, it’s hard to believe that when he started
his parents virtually had to drag him to Karate classes and keep
on dragging him because it all just seemed like too much hard work
to the young television addict. When the Karate ‘bug’ finally bit
him it bit hard and Matt’s work ethic and constant dedication to
all aspects of his art saw him become only the fourth ever KUGB
Grand Champion, a title bestowed on those who win both the kumite
and kata at the National Championships. A dedicated athlete, competitor
and instructor, Matt is the positive public face of Karate and a
genuine role model for all youngsters keen to trade their TV remote
for a sparkling white gi.
Within the KUGB you are probably this generation’s most respected
competitor. When did your competitive career start?
MP: I first got the bug for competition when I was around
thirteen, a few open competitions and a few KUGB competitions and
I wasn’t particularly very good but I wanted to be good. I first
started to do well when I got onto the KUGB Junior Squad at the
age of sixteen and started to get through a few rounds. When I hit
twenty one I went to the KUGB Junior Europeans and took third place
there, my first major medal and from there I’ve just kept working
at trying to get better all the time.
You’ve been quite successful at doing that!
MP: In 2002, at the KUGB National Championships-a lot of
respect is put on the National Championships-I won both the kata
and the kumite, making myself KUGB Grand Champion, and I believe
that made me only the fourth after Andy Sherry, Terry O’Neil and
Frank Brennan.
When did you actually start Karate?
MP: I started when I was nine years old and my parents dragged
me along to train because I watched too much television, so they
decided I should do something else and that was Karate. When I first
started I really didn’t want to carry on, it seemed too much like
hard work with all the discipline involved but they just kept dragging
me along and by about the age of thirteen I thought wow, this is
great!
Of all the full contact formats K1 does seem to be the most accessible
to a Karateka. Can you see some Karate fighters moving into that
arena?
MP: I think it does suit the karate style and Paul Newby
had a fight, at which I knew you were commentating, I was his corner
man and he did very well, winning his fight. Obviously you have
to adjust, to the boxing gloves and such but it does seem to suit
us. I think it will grow, when Newby first announced his attentions
he got a lot of interest and its spreading, which can only be good
for Karate and gives us a wider appeal, as long as these people
are coming from a correct Karate background and they’re not leaving
that background for the razzmatazz. Karate done correctly is very
dynamic and can be a hard hitting art-Paul Newby knocked his man
out and immediately credited his Karate. It’s nice when you see
people at a high level showing the skills they have correctly.
When you reach the top the only way is down, what keeps you motivated
to stay at the top?
MP: Just self-will, I always want to improve. I enjoy the
training so much as well, I enjoy training with competitions in
mind but on the whole I really just enjoy Karate. One of the great
things about Karate is that it covers a broad spectrum, there’s
street self defence, your kata bunkai, something for everybody.
Are you happy that Karate is once again being perceived as a legitimate
self defence system?
MP: It does please me. A good quality instructor, from
any association, should be able to distinguish the self-defence
elements of Karate. Obviously some of the competition techniques
wouldn’t always work in a street fight, the very high kicks, for
example, but a good instructor can show you what you can and can’t
do.
What is your regular training regime?
MP: I train every day-three, four times a week with Paul Newby
and Cain Canning, EKGB members who I get on very well with and we
work together on competition training and a bit of running to keep
the fitness up. I constantly do kumite drills and of course the
kata work. Weights come into my regime but not a great deal, I weight
train maybe once a week and if there are no competitions on the
horizon I might put it up to twice a week but it isn’t a major part
of my training. Karateka now train as athletes, which is only correct,
so you look after what you’re eating a little bit more, you do your
plyometric work, your strength work and that does help you build
as more desirable physique, I suppose.
We’ve mentioned Karate greats from the past but is it a fair statement
to say that Karate has evolved considerably from those days?
MP: I think it is a fair statement and I think that Karate
has to keep evolving to keep up with modern times. Every sport,
if you call the martial arts a sport, has to evolve, it can’t stand
still because if it does it goes backwards.
Do you set yourself goals, a career plan, or are you a one day
at a time man?
MP: I really just look towards the next competition and
set my training towards that-we have the European Championships
near the end of the year, the World Shotokan championships in Chicago
and I’ll simply work towards those.
Paul ‘Big Jim’ Newby is a genuine Karate legend, a natural fighter
who would excel in any fight discipline. He finally achieved all
his Karate ambitions when he won the Karate World title and has
since gone on to further challenges, winning his first K1 fight
by KO on a televised show and then turning professional as a boxer,
also winning his debut. With a big fan following Newby is being
chased by a number of high profile promoters and his hand speed
and foot movement ensure that the fight with Gordon is breathless
and, once again, the body shots Matt, Paul and Gordon take are barely
pulled as the adrenaline flowed. During the complex scene, within
such confined quarters, one of the facial blows that looks like
it landed cleanly did! Paul simply stayed in character, shrugged
it off and carried on and the result is already getting a buzz from
all that have seen the rushes.
The Fighter: Paul Newby
‘I’ve always been up for giving and taking shots, so I’m not bothered
about being hit to the head!’
Some men are just born to fight, they can’t help themselves, it’s
in their genes and whatever the discipline, whatever the art, you
know that they are simply going to rise to the top of the pile because
they have something no coach, no matter how great, can give them-a
fighters heart. One such man is twenty seven year old Paul Newby,
one of only a handful of genuine superstars in the current crop
of British Karate fighters and a man that everyone felt was destined
for World title glory. With immaculate timing, movement, hand/eye
co-ordination and speed, Newby entertained every time he stepped
onto the mat but a couple of near misses saw the fighter himself
wonder if World title glory would elude him. Then in 2004 the dream
became a reality and Newby realised the dream that had driven him
throughout his auspicious Karate career.
‘I’ve always wanted to win the World title; it’s been my main
goal. Coming so close two years ago and getting the bronze, just
missing out in the last 10 seconds, it was terrible for me, so the
last two years, that’s all that’s been driving me in Karate. I’ve
been in Karate a lot of years and sometimes it’s hard to stay focussed
but I really wanted this one; so getting it has been a dream come
true’.
The win ensured that Paul would be recognised as a true Karate
great and that his name would go down in history, a dream that was
very important for him but as much as it satisfied him in one sense
it also left him hungry for more. With Karate competition in a bit
of a slump and consistent lottery funding not guaranteed, Paul took
a pragmatic look at his career and realised two things-he wanted
to continue fighting and he wanted to do it professionally.
On numerous occasions Paul had been told that he had the movement
and demeanour of a boxer and on his sole foray into the full contact
world, a high profile K-1 UK fight that was later televised, Newby
shone and knocked out his Sanshou based opponent in emphatic style.
If Paul was to realise his dream of becoming a full-time professional
fighter he knew that boxing was the next logical step and with the
aid of his promotional team at Fighters Inc, fuelled by his close
relationship with Joe Long, no slouch in the promoting arena himself,
started the long road to boxing fame under the watchful eye of trainer
Howard Rayner.
Howard is impressed with the way Paul is developing and notes
that quality sparring is helping speed his development to the point
that he feels Paul has real potential because of his inbred discipline.
He admits, however, that any division in the pro-boxing ranks is
hard and that often fighting comes down to ‘how big your balls are!’
In fact, Howard is so impressed with Paul’s attitude that he believes
in two years time the Karate man could be challenging for a British
title, stating ‘I wish I had a gym full like him!’
Paul got the boxing bug in preparation for his K-1 fight, enjoying
the training regime. He admits that the problems with lottery funding
when he came back from the Worlds (as champion) also coloured his
thinking. He knew then that his desire was to continue as a professional
fighter and after 21 years in Karate had gone as far as he could
in the art. With this in mind, he felt that the wise thing would
to be to go into boxing, especially as in Karate terms he felt he
was more of a good puncher and mover than a kicker. As to the contact
levels, Paul points out that he always trained with bigger, heavier
fighters, so he’s always been conditioned and always worked his
fitness to the highest level, all of the time.
‘I trained with guys that were a lot bigger than me and took some
big knocks in Karate, so over the years I’ve become conditioned
and in Karate, at international level, it’s pretty much full contact
to the body anyway.’
When asked what adaptations were necessary to conform, Paul states
that he went into his boxing training with an open mind and notes
that Howard was very technical and likes to get everything perfect
before the fighter starts the more conventional elements, such as
hitting bags and sparring, which was ideal for a man from a technical
Karate background. In boxing you also stay in the zone and trade
for a lot longer, its continuous, and that is probably the only
aspect Paul felt he really had to adapt to.
‘I’ve always been a good fighter and always been up for giving
and taking shots, so I’m not bothered about getting hit to the head.’
Now Paul is channelling all of his energies into professional
boxing, training every day, twice a day because he knows what it
takes to be a World champion. Paul isn’t certain which weight division
he will fight in (fighting weight is a precise art in boxing) but
he knows that every division is competitive and calmly states that
‘you can only fight what’s put in front of you’. His pedigree as
a World champion shines through and he displays no nerves with regard
to the transition, believing that as long as he puts the hard training
in, he will do okay.
In any fighting art the heavyweight division is the one that gets
the goosebumps rising and Sucker Punch has the World Heavyweight
Karate Champion Leon Walters making his acting debut as Creel, Maitland’s
number one fighter and the film’s second big villain. He also gets
two showcase fights, including the all-important mid-movie action
as he takes on star Gordon Alexander in a pivotal nightclub scene.
With his good looks, sculpted physique and incredible athleticism,
Leon is leading man material and a perfect charismatic foil for
Gordon’s introspective hero, bring an Ali swagger to the table.
In rehearsals for their stand-out fight, Leon received a head-butt
full in the face and during his first fight was under the weather
with a very heavy cold (filming in a warehouse) but, as with all
the fighters in the film, displayed the typically British let’s
just get on with it attitude.
Leon’s opponent in that warehouse fight was another coup for Sucker
Punch, as we obtained the services of the hottest new MMA star in
Britain, James ‘The Colossus’ Thompson, who has not only taken this
country by storm but also made waves in Japan and the mighty Pride
organisation. James plays ‘Olympus’ in the film and fights Leon
Walters’ Creel, a match-up of raw strength and power against speed
and agility. As with all the other fighters on the film, James is
as nice out of the arena as he is focussed and fearless within it
but when you see the close-up of ‘The Colossus’ ready for a tear-up
in Sucker Punch you’ll have an idea of what his opponent’s see when
they are trapped in the cage with him!
Those that think lead star Gordon Alexander is simply an actor,
think again! Not only does he provide the choreography for the movie
but he is in all but one of the fight scenes and has the bruises
to prove it, including three broken ribs in the climatic fight scene.
With a lead role opposite Kevin McKidd (Rome, Dog Soldiers) in Richard
Jobson’s ‘The Purifiers’, Gordon is a rising acting star but his
martial art credentials are impeccable and this film gives him the
opportunity to showcase both his fighting and acting ability in
equal measure.
Finally, swimming through the deep ‘Sucker Punch’ waters like
a monstrous great white shark is the Big Daddy of them all-Ian ‘The
Machine’ Freeman. Simply put, Ian is our most respected and successful
MMA fighter ever, his total annihilation of UFC poster boy Frank
Mir one of the greatest performances by a British fighter in any
discipline. He’s consistently fought the very best, at the highest
level, and is truly representative of the hardcore attitude that
runs through this film like letters through a stick of rock. This
is his first major acting role, after a series of high-profile television
presenting roles (Britain’s Hardest, Celebrity Wrestling, Cage Rage)
but fight fans will always remember him as Britain’s hardest real
life fighter. As to whether the great white gets to smell blood…you’ll
just have to watch the film.
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