Sanshou Coup
Cung Le left West Valley College to become a world-champion fighter and is striving to promote his sport in the United States
By Sandy Sims
Photographs by Paul Myers
Ten years ago, Cung Le was a member of West Valley College's wrestling team. He was good, very good, and he was intense. So intense at training was Le that wrestling coach Jim Root was concerned Le would burn out. Though Le had won a state wrestling championship, Root says Le was too nice as a fighter to win big.
Today, some call Le the "Golden Boy" of the sanshou form of fighting, which is relatively new to the United States. As a professional sanshou fighter, Le has a 12-0 record, with seven knockouts. Le has been featured in magazines such as Black Belt and Kung Fu; owns two kickboxing schools; and his manager is negotiating a movie contract.
Le is definitely tougher than he was in college, and so is his form of fighting.
"Sanshou is the most lethal combat martial art there is," Santos Soto, Le's manager says. Sanshou was developed in the 1920s when Chinese leader Sun Yat-SenSan wanted his troops to become more effective at close-quarters combat. "Sanshou uses the hands of boxing, the specialized kicks of kung fu and the throws of Greco-Roman wrestling," Soto says. "But it's a sport now."
"It's a fast-moving sport," says Ben Greer, a teacher at one of Le's kickboxing schools. "A fighter has only three seconds to initiate a throw or the referee breaks up the move," he says. "It's a standing fight, no holding your opponent to submission like there is in wrestling." Greer is also the website and graphic designer for USH, Le's organization.
Cung Le counsels an amateur during the Born to Fight Sanshou Shootout at West Valley College.
Le chose the name "USH" for his business and for his line of gear because the word holds several meanings for him. Le says "USH" is the sound he makes when he's throwing punches, kicks or throws. He says the letters also stand for "unity starts here," and for "United Sanshou Headquarters."
Calling Le's business the headquarters for sanshou is not far-fetched. Le is the driving force behind the sport in the United States. The International Sport Karate Association recognized sanshou as a professional sport in the United States in 1998, and Le was the first U.S. sanshou fighter to enter the ring as a professional. That was the year Le fought a hard battle against the Armenian fighter, Minaro Taro, in Los Angeles and won.
"USH also means 'unleash hell,' " says Le, who later adds that he's been "blessed by the Lord," and is doing what he's been put on this earth to do.
Le's signature move is his scissors kick. According to Santos, no one else in the world can do the kick the way Le does it: Le whips his heel into his opponent's stomach, leaving him breathless, and, at the same time, uses his other leg to sweep his opponent's legs out from under him. This move and Le's ability to throw his opponent over his head have proven effective in competition.
Le fought Naushauguerile, China's so-called Mongolian King--a legendary sanshou fighter--in Hawaii in 1999 and won. "I was definitely the underdog," Le says. "But I finally got him with my scissors kick."
Le says winning that battle was his finest moment but his toughest fight.
Maybe that was Le's toughest sanshou fight, but his fight to be on top of the pack started at an early age.
Jenna Castillo throws a punch at Katie Meehan during the sanshou shootout promoted by Cung Le at West Valley College. Castillo, a protegé of Le, won by a technical knockout.
In 1975, 2 1/2-year-old Le and his mother were among those who escaped during the mayhem when Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to forces from North Vietnam. They eventually found their way to the Bay Area.
"My grandfather was chief of police for five cities in Vietnam," Le says. "And he always had a dozen guards by his side." But that family status meant nothing growing up in San Jose where Le says he felt the sting of prejudice. He says he was a skinny kid, teased by some children who called him "gook," picked on him, and even beat him up.
When Le came home with two black eyes, his mother told him to stand up for himself. So, at the age of 10, Le studied tae kwon do for about eight months. But his foundation as a sanshou fighter really began in eighth grade when Le took up wrestling. By the time he reached his sophomore year at San Jose High Academy, Le says, "No one wanted to mess with me. They knew I could do things like pop their shoulders.
"I was an intense athlete," Le says. "I spent lunches running up and down bleachers." As a junior, he was among the top six in the state, and in his senior year he won the national championship in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Le enrolled at West Valley College and continued to wrestle.
"Cung has one of the best work ethics I've ever seen," says Root, Le's college coach. "I'd have to watch him so he wouldn't work too much." Root described Le as a quiet young man and a leader by example during Le's college years. Root says he thinks Le's example helped the others work up to their ability. In 1990 Le won first place in the Junior College State Greco Roman Wrestling Championships, and in 1991 he placed third. "Coach Root said I didn't have the killer instinct to win," Le says.
After Le's sophomore year, his mother's travel business was faltering, so he stopped fighting and worked full time for her. When his mother's business began to flourish, Le's eye turned again to contact sports.
Le's mother and "childhood sweetheart," Patty--who later became his wife--supported him financially while he studied Vietnamese kung fu and tae kwon do. His wins at martial arts tournaments were piling up when he heard about sanshou, which was new to the United States. It was perfect for bringing together all Le's contact sport skills.
Le's first sanshou fight was in 1994 at the U.S. Open tournament in Mobile, Ala. He won the gold medal. After Mobile, Le won big on the Chinese martial arts circuit. His reputation was growing. Then he won the sanshou championship of his weight class at the U.S. national championship in Orlando. In 1995, he became the U.S. sanshou team captain for the world championship tournament and won the bronze medal.
In the meantime, his skill was growing. He worked at the scissors kick until he perfected it to a takedown move. But when the scissors kick actually shattered two opponents' cheekbones, Le decided he would no longer aim the kick at his opponent's head.
Posters of world-champion sanshou fighter Cung Le blanketed the West Valley College campus during the Sanshou Shoutout in July.
Le's intensity and skill and maturity as a fighter kept growing.
He fought in an international tournament in Chicago, where he lost in a close battle. But he realized then that he was good enough to fight the best.
In 1997 Jivoni Jordan, a San Jose resident, became important to Le's growth as a fighter.
In a video about Le, entitled The Making of a Champion, Jordan explains that after looking at tapes of Le's fight in Chicago, Jordan told Le, "You've got no hands." Jordan, who is a strength and conditioning coach and knows about boxing and martial arts, became Le's personal trainer.
Jordan's intense training has increased Le's strength, endurance and boxing skill and made him mentally tougher. "We train for every single situation that might happen in the ring," Jordan says. Jordan worked on Le's endurance, teaching him that the mind takes over when the body gives out. Jordan says, "You have to train like an athlete, not like a fighter."
Then came the fight in Rome in 1997. Le was at the top of his condition and favored to win the international championship. In the middle of the fight, Le was disqualified because of a groin kick. The referee's decision was controversial, and Le says the referee was wrong.
Again at the top of his game and once more favored to be the world champion, Le went to Hong Kong in 1999 to fight. This time he contracted dysentery and was so sick that he lost 12 pounds. "Everyone was concerned," Le says. He fought anyway and won the bronze. "I could have won two medals there if I hadn't eaten the fruit," Le says.
That was the same year Le beat the Mongolian King with a technical knockout in the third round. By the end of the fight, Le says he felt pretty beat up himself, but a video of the fight shows the Mongolian King was falling apart and trying to get away from Le. "I got him when he was worn down," Le says. "I got him with my scissors kick."
Le, who fights as a light heavyweight (175 pounds) and light cruiserweight (180 pounds), is still undefeated professionally.
He says he doesn't need to fight for financial reasons because his kickboxing schools, in east San Jose and Santa Clara, are doing well with students totaling 700 to 800. He also sells his USH line of gear and training videos.
With all the success, Le is still as driven as he was at West Valley. "What keeps me going is that I'm at the top of my game and everyone wants to have a piece of me," Le says. He says he pushes beyond his limits when he trains. "Jivoni knows how to push me to the edge," Le says.
When Le is training for a fight, he climbs up and down the bleachers eight times, carrying 175-pound Rudy Ott on his back. Ott is Le's protégé and the U.S. sanshou team captain. "We do this twice a week when we are getting ready for a fight," Ott says. Ott carries Le too.
"He fights the style, not the person," Jordan says. "And he can shift his moves to fit the situation."
Max Chen is comforted by Rudi Ott while awaiting the judges decision. Chen was declared the winner during the Born to Fight Sanshou Shootout at West Valley College.
Le can train for five or six hours five or six times a week. Sometimes Jordan has to order him to take a day off. "Cung is the kind of person that can't stop," Le's wife, Patty, says on the Making of a Champion video. But, she says, the night before a fight, Le stays home and quiet. At home is 10-month-old Cung Le Jr., who Le says will make his own decision about fighting.
Le is at the point in his career where he is coaching other fighters. "Two of the spots on the U.S. team are taken by fighters from our stable," Le says. Ott is the captain of the U.S. sanshou team, which is headed for the October world championship competition in Armenia. Le's nephew Santos Soto Jr., 17, is also on the team. Nineteen-year-old Jenna Castillo is one of Le's fighters. She is a national champion, with a record of five wins and no losses. "Jenna is going to be a megastar," Santos says. Le says, "She's is the female version of Cung Le."
The sport is so young in this country that just this year different competition levels have opened up so that there are fights for beginners as well as professionals. This new, loosely regulated sport has its problems too. Fighters still move back and forth from the professional matches to amateur matches.
But Le and others who believe in sanshou are working to make this martial art a major sport in the United States. On July 21--wanting to raise money for his old wrestling team and also promote sanshou--Le hosted the Born to Fight Sanshou Shootout at West Valley College. Some 2,500-plus people filed into the West Valley gym to watch youngsters demonstrate sanshou exercises and qualified fighters compete in sanshou bouts. But when Le and Ott went into the ring, the audience witnessed the skill and finesse of professional sanshou.
Kevin Tacey of West Valley College's kick-boxing club stretches before the amateur fights at the Born to Fight Sanshou Shootout in July. Cung Le, the organizer of the event, was a student at West Valley 10 years ago.
Some big names in martial arts were behind the event. Movie star and karate champion Chuck Norris sent his picture and wrote a statement for the program. Two martial arts superstars attended the event--Frank Shamrock, a five-time Ultimate Fighting champion (a no-holds-barred fighting form) and Bob Wall, a longtime karate champion and actor in three Bruce Lee movies.
"It was a big success," says Ruth Carlson, director of public affairs and community relations at West Valley College. "Cung Le is wonderful," Carlson says. "He's a great role model."
Le says he wants his name and sanshou to become household words. It looks like that might happen. Sancho says he is negotiating a contract with Larry Kazanoff, co-owner with James Cameron (Titanic) of Threshold Entertainment, for a role in the movie Mortal Combat Three.
Despite the success, Le is not satisfied. "Everyone else feels I've made it," Le says." But I feel I'm only half way."
"Le's matured as a fighter," says Root, Le's college wrestling coach. "He's got that killer instinct now."
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