Interviews
Interviews
Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez
From 'The Jet Is Still Flying High' - 1994
I have known Benny since February 1978. He had been in town to do a five round exhibition. I still remember him landing his jumping back kick to the face of his opponent, and watching almost in slow motion, as the mouthpiece sailed across the ring. I then attended a seminar he was conducting and was one of the fortunate few who was allowed to spar with him. I had good kicking ability but my boxing skills, compared to Benny's, left much to be desired. While he was in mid-step, I hit him with a sidekick to the body knocking him off balance and to the ground. Everyone panicked - as did I, I thought he was going to kill me. He came in close and proceeded to box my ears off while explaining the technique and how he was doing it.
In 1980, in my early fight career, his brother Arnold wanted to buy my fight contract from my manager, but my manager would not sell it. When I was told of this years later, I thought it was ironic as I had not signed a contract with my manager or anyone. I fought on several undercards of Benny's fights, and in 1981 there was discussion between Benny, myself and my business partner to open up a gym for him in Canada and become Benny's right hand man. I sometimes wonder where I would be right now had I pursued this, however, I have never had any regrets for my decision and am at peace with myself and my life. His wife Sara has even been kind enough in the past to find items for me in Los Angeles that I collect and send them to me. Benny has always treated me with kindness and respect, and I the same for him.
The man is my inspiration for my training and pursuing Kickboxing as a career. Benny is very in tune with himself and his goals, and I respect him that much more for it. This is a man who has had an incredible career. He received his Black Belt at the age of fourteen. Forget today's four and six year old Black Belts which in reality are a farce as a Black Belt means technical proficiency as a beginner as well as a step into manhood. Benny received his Black Belt four years before the norm, which was unheard of in the early days of the Martial Arts in the USA.
His colorful career has left him as a controversial figure amongst the Thai fighters. His fight with Howard Jackson is now legendary in its outcome. Four years ago, there was talk about Benny fighting boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard. Leonard was considering fighting three opponents, two of which he did, Hearns and Duran. Leonard backed down from Urquidez as rumor has it he would not be able to deal with the kicking aspect of the fight.
The Jet's exploits in Japan left him a National Hero there with the Japanese only being able to accept the losses by calling Benny 'Half Japanese'. They even had Benny 'The Jet' comic books in Japan. Some of todays boxers and Kickboxers have unknowingly mimicked Benny with their victorious jumping back flips after winning their bouts. Benny was doing this in the early 1970s! Whenever I talk to him he constantly amazes me and makes me feel refreshed in my own personal pursuits from his enthusiasm. He was kind enough to give me some spare minutes in between training to talk about himself, his life, and his upcoming retirement fight with Japanese Champion Tagami. Thanks Benny!
MM: How come every time that I talk to you I get nervous?
BU: That's a good sign because then we have good energy flowing against each other. It's just a matter of respecting one another.
MM: When did you start training in the Martial Arts?
BU: When kids at three years old had fire trucks, I had boxing gloves. I started boxing at the age of three and I was boxing peewee division at the Olympic Auditorium at the age of five. I started wrestling at the age of six and I started judo at seven. From seven years old in the arts I continued on, so I am going on thirty-five years in the arts.
MM: When did you have your first Full Contact fight?
BU: Actually it first came out in 1973 and it was called Full Contact Karate which nobody understood anyway. I started in what was like a toughman contest. It was called the World Series of Martial Arts on which everyone fought on this one. There were no weight divisions. It was like 'OK' whomever you are matched up with, you fight next. It did not matter the size, the weight, the rules, everything went. I fought Dana Goodsen who was six foot three and 245 lbs at the time. I beat him for the Grand Championship. It got to the point where I even bit him on the chest. I dropped him on the ground, and he elbowed and we both started getting tired. He started to move and I spit my mouthpiece out and I bit him on the chest (laughter). I mean that is the type of fighting it was. There were no rules. I won the title and I defended my title on that about three times. I was the world champion in no weight division. Then I went to the Professional Karate Association. It started at the same time as the World Series of Martial Arts. I went in there and I fought. From that point on I took the title in the lightweight division. Then I went into Chuck Norris' National Karate League and fought under that sanctioning body. I won the lightweight title there also. Then my brother, Chuck Norris, and Howard Hansen, started the WKA. I also took that title. Half of the other sanctions I do not even remember. Then I did the first MuayThai fight in the USA on March 12th, 1977. I actually thought at the time that 'MuayThai' was his name. I had no idea that it was a fighting style.
MM: There have been several magazines that have published the article about you fighting Thai Champion Narongnoi Kiatbandit. Some of the pro MuayThai magazines have been really digging in negatively about you. Is there anything you would like to say about your fight with Narongnoi other than what you have published?
BU: As far as fighting Narongnoi, I take nothing from him. I beat him fair and square and with no problem. Here is the problem with Thai fighters: even when you beat the Thai fighters, they are not convinced you have beat them. They never admit that anybody can beat them. They have been beaten though they still do not admit they have lost. It is their mentality and the way they think. It is not their education or lack of it. There is no life for them after the ring. That is all they do for a living. They walk and talk and sleep and dream fighting day in and day out. They don't go outside the camp. To them there is no life after the ring.
MM: Narongnoi is now an extremely wealthy businessman in Bangkok. Fighting is their way out of poverty to buy land and farm it for themselves and their families. Fighting means money to them.
BU: Yeah!? Whereas for me, I do it as a sport. They are constantly saying that I lost and they can beat me, and they have beaten me, or I have cheated and I say 'look, you can say anything you want'. I'm not saying I am a superman or I do not cry, bleed or hurt. But as far as fighting I have never been beaten or knocked out. I have been knocked down but never knocked out. I will give you two instances. They say I lost with this other Thai, Prayout Sittiboonlert, in Japan on August 2nd, 1978. We were giving a five round exhibition. After it was over with, the next thing I know is that I heard he beat me. I said what do you mean he beat me? We did a five round exhibition. There was no weigh in. There were no rule stipulations to make the bout legitimate. The second time was with Billy 'Jack' Jackson in the USA with him saying he beat me. They told me a five round exhibition and then it went seven rounds. Towards the end of the show I told my brother in the corner 'forget it, let me go out and knock this character out'. In the seventh round I go out and I almost put this guys lights out, and then the sanctioning body says because I swept him and several other excuses, they fouled me points and then they said I lost. I said 'What? How do you lose an exhibition?'
MM: You have done so much for the sport that people want to take away from it, or do what they can to discredit you.
BU: It's like nobody can be that good, and they think that nobody can not lose. I say 'look it, it does not matter. If I lose, I lose'. The point is I went out there for the right reasons. I do not discredit anybody as far as Kickboxing is concerned. In Thailand they are outlawing the elbows.
MM: In all the times I have been in Thailand, I can not think of a time that I did not see bouts using elbows as weapons.
BU: American people do not want to see that. They want to see a good fight but they do not want to see two people kill each other. In Thailand a lot of Thai are going blind from the elbows, so now they are starting to take away the elbows from the fighters. There are still certain camps that will fight with elbows. Only because it is not a sport, but a way of life and a way of putting food on the table. It is a sport and we go in there for the right reasons. I have heard so many stories that I have lost, I have been knocked out, or such and such was training me and he knocked me out in my gym. I always believe one thing, I am somebody to talk about. If I was nobody to talk about, it would not matter. All I care is they say my name right.
MM: What is your present fight record right now?
BU: On paper it is 57 Wins and 0 Losses with 49 KOs. This is by what I can show you on posters, papers, tapes and videos. In reality, I am 63 Wins and 0 Losses. I cannot show proof for the other 6 fights. So as far as everyone else is concerned, I am 57-0.
MM: I find it ironic that they complain about six of your fights. There are a few other champions who are claiming to have a bunch of fights that they cannot prove either. One American Kickboxer turned action star in the Orient added on 30-odd fights in less than a year. Which of your bouts do you feel were noteworthy fights?
BU: I trained just as hard for all of my fights. I take nobody for granted. I spar just as hard and do my homework just as hard as if my opponent is a champion. As far as I am concerned I am going for his title even if he does not have one. Every one of my fights was a title fight. On record I have 57 title fights. People will say you have the title, what do you mean you are going for his title? In my mind I do not care. I take nobody for granted and I go to war with each and every one of them.
MM: Who do you think was your toughest opponent in the ring? Who was the one that really made you have to pull from the inside?
BU: Okao was a very strong fight for me. I always remember him in my mind because that guy was strong right from when the bell rang. He clocked me and I felt every bit of his power. Powerful legs, powerful hands, good boxing skills and a good kicker, and that is why he sticks out in my mind.
MM: That was an incredible fight. That is the fight where you almost sprinted for a full round to knock him out.
BU: Right, I had to. That was the only way I could drop this guy. He absorbed everything.
MM: When was your last fight in the ring? Was that Tom Laroche in 1985?
BU: No I had one in Japan. I wish I could think of his name. Blinky Rodriguez, Benny's brother-in-law, can think of his name. That was 4 1/2 years ago at the Tokyo Dome.
MM: Did you knock him out?
BU: It was a five round decision.
MM: What are your future goals in life?
BU: I have nothing to prove. I have held the title for nineteen going on twenty years now. I am going into the ring for the right reason first of all. I am going in there to build the sport. Building it up so I can make a standard so these guys underneath me will start to make some decent money. I can't believe these guys train so hard and then get so little. So hopefully I am going to make a standard financially. A lot of the proceeds for my fights are going to cities and schools. It is called the 'Knockout Dropout Academy'. It is for these kids that have dropped out of school, even as early as kindergarten, to help these kids get back in school and educate them and keep them off the streets with this gang stuff. The purpose is right for this. Everyone assumed I am retired, because after my last fight I started doing movie work. So this will be my retirement fight and at the same time it will start out the Knockout Dropout Academy.
MM: Who do you feel was the most influential person in your life?
BU: My mother was my hero. God bless her as she passed away a year and a half ago. She was everything that made me strive. Now my wife has taken over these footsteps. Not that she has taken the place of my mother. There have been three women in my life: my mother, my wife and my daughter. Between the three it not only gave me the inspiration, but also the want and the excitement to continue. I have been in the art for thirty-five years and I still am as excited and as hungry as when I started. I believe I am a better teacher than I am a fighter, and it is because I love people and I love teaching and I love sharing. I have a lot to give and I just want to be able to give back to the community.
MM: Is there anything you would like to say about your family?
BU: All of the members in my family are leaders starting with my older brother Arnold. There are nine Black Belts in my family. The Martial Arts have kept us together. There is a lot of love for one another and a lot of respect. My family not only gave me a lot of inspiration, but were there to back me up as well. We trained together. We walked and talked the Martial Arts together. We have a lot of love for the art, which kept us together and helped us get as good as we could get.
MM: Are you happy with what you have achieved in Kickboxing or life in general?
BU: I am content with my life. I've been around the world five times. I have fought the best. I have planted my flag and I came home with money. I've seen more than people have seen in a lifetime and I am a young pup. I've got a lot to share and a lot to give. I have started to realize that after forty years old you just start to live your life. All of the trials and tribulations I have behind me. There is nothing you can tell me, as I have lived through it all. I've seen it, I've tasted it, I've been it, I've felt it, I understand it, and right now I am really starting to enjoy my life and the fruits of my labor. I am starting to reap the harvest which is amazing. I realize I am really starting to enjoy my life and give back to the community what I was blessed with. I am better now than when I was at twenty.
MM: Are you happy with the state of Kickboxing right now?
BU: No I am not happy with it right now because it has not received what it deserves. It has not received the media attention and the financial attention for the fighters that are working real hard. It is established because people want to see it. People are calling it the sport of the 90s. People want to see it and people are going to have to contend with it, but it is still not quite there yet.
MM: What do you think can be done to promote it?
BU: That is what I am doing and I am going to help to create a standard to improve it. I hope to help to continue improving it until the day I die. It is something I have loved, respected and honored.
MM: What is your opinion on Full Contact Karate (without kicks to the legs) now?
BU: The problem with Full Contact Karate is that it is not international. Los Angeles is full of so-called World Champions. I have said that you can not have so many different sanctions and different rules. It has to be like boxing with one set of rules. International rules, and everybody has got to adjust by it. That way you will get all of these champions together and let them fight each other and you will end up with one true champion.
MM: Well, unfortunately boxing is like that now with so many professional sanctioning bodies. Everyone is out for the money.
BU: Yeah!
MM: What is your opinion about Kickboxing (allowing kicks to the legs)?
BU: To me I am a strong believer in the street that there can be no rules. When you cannot continue, the fight is over with. That is self-defense. As far as the ring is concerned, there are rules you have to go by and we have to find a happy medium for all.
MM: You state that the Thais are no longer using elbows in their fights, yet most Thai Boxing masters are frowning down on the present sport for attempting to do this. They see the art now becoming 'Handicapped MuayThai'.
BU: In MuayThai you have to take the elbows out because the public does not want to see that. The knees are not bad at all as long as you do not grab the neck and clinch. Then it starts to look like it is wrestling. People do not want to see that. Knees are fine as long as you do not clinch.
MM: Modified MuayThai seems to be catching on all around the world other than really the USA. Most boxing commissions in North America and Europe do not allow the use of elbow attacks to the head. What do you think about this?
BU: Well MuayThai is catching on, but obviously they are modifying the MuayThai. They are taking out the elbows and some are taking out the clinching.
MM: What are your favorite fight techniques?
BU: I can fight southpaw or orthodox. I can kick you with either leg, I can jump with either leg, or I can hit you with either hand. I can do just as much damage with any of them. Everyone knows me for my jumping back kick. It is because it does a lot of damage and I am accurate with it. As far as I am concerned there is no limit to me. I can use any weapon be it elbows, knees, clinching. To me I do not care.
MM: Who is your favorite fighter or fighters right now?
BU: I look for champions that are good role models. For instance, a certain heavyweight champion is one guy I would never turn on the television and let my students watch. He is a bad example of a role model and a champion. Pete Cunningham is flashy, he has good kicks and good techniques, and on top of that he is a gentleman. He speaks well on camera. He does not cuss. It is guys like him who are important for our youngsters to see. It is good for kids to say 'gosh, I would like to be like him'. He does not talk bad about anybody and he talks with a lot of good spirit. He always has good to say to everyone, and he is not jealous or envious of anyone.
MM: Back to the true spirit of the Martial Arts!
BU: Yeah, that is it!
MM: What do you think you have gained the most out of Kickboxing?
BU: The Martial Arts taught me to be a good team player. It taught me discipline. It taught me good sportsmanship. It gave me peace of mind. It was a great release of frustrations and anxieties. It released all of that negative out of me, and kept all the goodness in me. It grounded me in my way of life from when I woke up until I went to sleep. It taught me good rules. It taught me to walk with pride and a lot of excitement, and that there is a lot of beauty in the world. It offers people a good way of life.
MM: Can you tell us a little about the Jet Center?
BU: It is a very unique place because you have so many countries training here. We have seventeen countries training here. It has become a place where people have come to test themselves and make their dreams come true. It is a place to test their skills and ability and to test their emotions under pressure. It is a sanctuary to a lot of people here. All we have here is to share and a lot of love and the truth. There is only black and white in the truth. We do not care what color, what language, or nationality anyone is because everybody is the same. I do not care if you have a little money or a lot of money, you are treated the same way here. A lot of people who come here do not even speak English. A universal language is a physical language.
MM: How do you feel about your 'death match' in Hong Kong in the early 1980s?
BU: We had a fight tour throughout the Orient and Australia. I was scheduled to fight Kong Fu Tak in Hong Kong. As we started fighting I was starting to bang this Chinese fighter around, and I kept waiting for the referee to stop the fight. Finally, my opponents face was so broken up and swollen that the referee stopped and said he was not going to have anything more to do with the fight. The fight was stopped, and then I learned afterwards that the fight had been announced as a death match. My opponent spent months in the hospital with his face healing up.
MM: That fight had a negative backlash for Kickboxing in Hong Kong. After that bout, Kickboxing was banned in Hong Kong for years. Years later the Hong Kong Authorities made it mandatory to fight with head gear and chest pads.
BU: That is unfortunate.
MM: How do you feel about your upcoming fight with Tagami?
BU: I am really quite excited. Like I said, I am going in there for the right reasons. He is definitely a very worthy opponent. We are going to play a physical game of chess. I am looking forward to it.
MM: Do you have any predictions about the fight?
BU: I never predict because I am going into the ring for one thing, to play a good game of chess. I want to give the people what they came for, which is a show. I am going to give them my best. I am there to give the glory to God. It is his glory while I am in there, and win or lose, it is for him. That is my foundation mentally, physically and spiritually.
MM: I had Tagami's coach up here with some of his fighters a short while ago. He was very respectful to you saying you were a little older but you were very strong. He had mentioned he would have liked to see the fight go with knees. How do you feel about that?
BU: To tell you the truth, I just go by the rules. You see that is the only way that I can call myself a World Champion. If someone says they are a World Champion in my division I say 'let's go'. I will beat you at your own rules and in your own backyard. Whatever, it does not matter.
MM: Is there anything you would like to add about this fight?
BU: It is not a do or die type of thing. It is not the USA against Japan. I just want to give the audience a good show. On the street I fight to defend myself, but in the ring I perform. Whatever happens, happens. I have trained and done my homework, and we will see when we get into the ring.
MM: Is there anything you would like to add into this interview?
BU: You have to do this thing for the right reason. You have to do it for the love of the sport. For the competition aspect of it, it is exciting. You have to understand that it hurts. You have to love it to keep coming back and working at it. It teaches you about yourself and how to control your emotions and your fears. It will teach you that you do not have to prove or show yourself to anybody. If you have to defend yourself or your loved ones that is a different story. If you have to hype yourself up that you are going to kill him in the ring you are going in there with fear. You do not belong in the ring if you have to hype yourself.
MM: I will be at the fight and I will be in the front row wishing you all the best.
BU: Terrific! Take care and I will see you there.
