Neither Jackie Chan nor Zhen Zidan dared to be called the Emperor of Kung Fu, but Jet Li deserved this title. However, during the filming of the movie "Jingwu Hero", Jet Li was beaten to a bone by "robot" Fujita Tsuyoshi's actor Zhou Billy. If you want to ask who is the most capable Chinese kung fu actor? That is indisputable is the boxing king Zhou Billy, if you want to choose a martial arts star who is side by side with Bruce Lee, it must still be Zhou Billy, Zhou Billy, who is also?
Billy Chow is 27 years old and won the world light heavyweight free fighting championship. The 46-year-old KO Thai boxer in Hong Kong, with a professional record of 43 wins and 8 losses, is the only Chinese player to win a world-class gold belt. What kind of legendary story does Billy Zhou have in his life, today we will recall the behind-the-scenes history of Boxing King Billy Zhou.
◆ A frail and sickly boxer from a young age
Born in Canada in 1958, Billy Chou was physically weak from an early age. Therefore, at the age of 11, he was sent to learn martial arts, and although his foundation was poor, he was more diligent than everyone else. Billy Chou's master looked at his fighting spirit and taught him everything, and from time to time let him go out to fight with people.
When Billy Chow was 23 years old, Master felt that he could stand alone and asked him to go to Hong Kong to participate in fighting competitions. This was his first time in a major combat competition, and although he did not win the ranking, he accumulated a lot of experience for him.
In 1982, at the age of 24, Billy Chow won the Canadian Lightweight Free Play Championship. After years of hard training, he is unstoppable, and his outstanding performance has won the love of many people. In 1985, at the age of 27, Billy Chow won the World Lightweight Free Throw Championship, became the world boxing champion, got the gold belt, and for a time Billy Zhou became famous. The 46-year-old Hong Kong-Thai boxer with a professional record of 43 wins and 8 losses is the only Chinese player to have won a world-class gold belt.
◆ Billy Chow and Bruce Lee, who are the king of the explosion
Hong Jinbao said: When I was young, there were only two people on the set who could not beat, one was Bruce Lee and the other was Billy Chow. Both were professional martial artists and fighters.
Many friends want to know, if the two of them fight in real combat, who is more powerful? Some people say that Bruce Lee has not participated in major fighting competitions, but Bruce Lee does not lack experience with many world-class fighting masters. Ali, a boxing champion of his generation, called him the most outstanding person in the field of fighting. The influence of his Chinese kung fu in the world is still unsurpassed.
As the first true Chinese world boxing king, Zhou Billy's actual combat ability is also beyond doubt. Even at the age of 45, he once again took to the hong Kong ring and defeated the Iranian boxer. It was in 2003 again, and the Thai boxer directly ko defeated the opponent, which was obviously not something that ordinary players could do. It's just a pity that the two are not in the same era and can't satisfy everyone's curiosity.
◆ Yuan Biao, Jackie Chan, Zhou Xingchi, who has the highest evaluation
As the world boxing champion, Billy Chow is definitely better than most kung fu stars in terms of actual combat. He did not hesitate to praise the kung fu stars he had worked with, he said that Yuan Biao did any action in the movie in his early years, feeling that there was a kind of relaxed and effortless dashing, if he fought with Yuan Biao, he needed to concentrate and seize the time, and sure enough, he was a master, and he broke the action characteristics of Yuan Biao.
The evaluation of Jackie Chan is not to pay attention to the chic, nor to pay attention to good looks, but a bit chaotic, because Jackie Chan plays a kung fu comedy, naturally likes to jump up and down, likes to use some of the surrounding props, and will not play like in the ring
Zhou Billy praised Zhou Xingchi although he was not from a martial arts background, but his movements and reactions were very good, and he also had a study of Western boxing, his boxing ability was very strong, he did not lose at all when practicing, and it was very happy to shoot his movies.
Being able to evaluate the kung fu of so many people is also summed up very well, it seems that Zhou Billy is not generally high in martial arts attainments.
◆ Enter the film industry, whose credit
Once Hong Jinbao went to Canada to shoot a movie, and a friend recommended Billy Zhou to him. Hong Jinbao called him and asked him if he would like to make a movie, and told him that it was okay for the new person, and that he was not afraid of remake and waste with a lot of film. In this way, Zhou Billy followed Hong Jinbao to shoot "The Bride of the Port" and officially stepped into the show business circle.
In 1987, Hong Jinbao directed and starred in "The Condor of the East", in which Billy Chow made a cameo appearance as a thug and Played against Hong Jinbao. His flowing martial arts action has become a highlight of the film. Subsequently, he shot many movies with Hong Jinbao's Hong Jiaban, and most of the Hongjiaban had cooperated with him. But because of his fierce appearance, Billy Chow starred in villains. He also understands his own characteristics, so he never picks and chooses the role, no matter the size of the role, he plays it with his heart.
However, filming is different from playing a game, playing a game is to use all your strength, fist to flesh, but filming is to the point. At that time, he often thought about a difficult problem, how can he show his strength without injuring his opponent? For example, in the movie "Flying Dragon Fierce General", he and Yuan Biao fight, he wants to lose to the other party naturally, which is not easy for a boxing king who is too strong.
At that time, Zhou Billy liked to play against Hong Jinbao the most, because Hong Jinbao's skin was thick and resistant, and he did not have to deliberately restrain his strength. In the movie "Dragons Playing Phoenix", Hong Jinbao was beaten by him with a blue nose and swollen face. And Hong Jinbao, as the predecessor who brought him into the industry, often gave him some guidance to make him more handy in acting.
In 1990, Billy Chow starred in the fantasy comedy "Invincible Lucky Star" starring Stephen Chow, which was his first collaboration with Stephen Chow. Zhou Xingchi admired his kung fu very much, often joking, asking Zhou Billy to show him the videotape of the previous boxing, and the two became acquainted with the drama. In the later film "The King of Destruction", Stephen Chow invited him to make a cameo appearance as a taekwondo master.
◆ The pinnacle of "Jingwu Hero", Jet Li was beaten
In 1994, Billy Chow welcomed his masterpiece film "Jingwu Hero". On the eve of the film's shooting, Billy Chow shoots nails in his hands and hits his head against the stone slab, and the fierceness of kung fu calms everyone down. The most bloody thing is his ten-minute duel with Jet Li, which vividly shows the madness and murderous spirit of the "killing machine" Fujita Tsuyoshi.
In fact, when filming that year, Jet Li had no defense against Billy Zhou, and he felt that Billy Zhou was like other martial arts actors, just a little kung fu foundation. After all, Jet Li has learned martial arts since he was a child, and it is not too easy to fight with Billy Chou. For the sake of the realism of the film, the director asked Jet Li and Billy Chow to play at will.
Jet Li dodged Billy Zhou's heavy blows as usual, minimizing the probability of his injury. Unexpectedly, Zhou Billy punched over, Jet Li was stunned that he did not hold it, and his arm was broken on the spot and sent to the hospital, which was still under the condition that Zhou Billy deliberately controlled the force. The scene took 20 days to complete, and later in an interview Jet Li joked: I may never shoot against Billy Chow in the future.
And Wu Jing is bolder than Jet Li, when Zhou Billy cooperated with Wu Jing in the movie "Kung Fu Boy Breaks through the Pass", although in the movie Zhou Billy was beaten very badly by Wu Jing, but it was not like this when filming. At that time, Zhou Billy was 90 kilograms and Wu Jing was 60 kilograms, and there were huge differences between the two in terms of martial arts attainment and body shape. When filming the opponent scene, Wu Jing was directly kicked by him and flew away, without the ability to fight back. Wu Jing said frankly: If you can, you will never want to be an opponent with Zhou Billy in the play in the future.
◆ The hero ends and spends his old age in peace
In 1997, during the filming of "The Great General", Billy Chow and boxer actress Yang Lijing filmed a rival scene. As a result, he kicked a series of legs, Yang Lijing did not stop, was hit hard in the chest, causing Yang Lijing to retreat and hit the wall on the spot shock. Although Yang Lijing later woke up and insisted on finishing the filming of the back scene, what everyone did not expect was that this foot left Yang Lijing with serious sequelae, and three years later Yang Lijing was almost paralyzed because of spinal problems, and then quit the film and television circle. Although Billy Zhou tried to control the intensity in the performance, it was still not something that ordinary people could bear, and later fewer and fewer people looked for him to shoot, and gradually faded out of the show business circle.
Now 63 years old, Zhou Billy has long ceased to star in film and television dramas, but he still insists on fitness and boxing, and also opens his own martial arts gym, promotes his martial arts spirit, and teaches his experience in the ring to others. He has now recruited more than 1,000 disciples, including Tan Junyan, the son of Dillon's eldest brother, and Wu Jianhao, a member of the F4 group, who are his apprentices.
In this life, there are not many people in the ring who can ko him, but there is only one person who can convince him, that is, his mother-in-law, in front of his wife, the world boxing king who once was in the limelight appears to be kind and kind-eyed. It's like Jin Yong's top master can't ask for it all his life, and finally loses to love.
Now Zhou Billy is doing what he likes every day, and his life is extremely comfortable, although Zhou Billy has long retired from the show business circle, but the image of the "robot" Fujita Gang he plays is firmly engraved in the hearts of the audience, and he will not easily forget him, do you say?