User talk:Paul Maslak

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Welcome[edit]

Hello, Paul Maslak! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. You may benefit from following some of the links below, which will help you get the most out of Wikipedia. If you have any questions you can ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking or by typing four tildes "~~~~"; this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you are already excited about Wikipedia, you might want to consider being "adopted" by a more experienced editor or joining a WikiProject to collaborate with others in creating and improving articles of your interest. Click here for a directory of all the WikiProjects. Finally, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field when making edits to pages. Happy editing! --Nuujinn (talk) 00:21, 3 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
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Your submission at Articles for creation[edit]

United States Kickboxing Association, which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created.

Thank you for helping Wikipedia!

Baseball Watcher 20:34, 13 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Re Benny Urquidez[edit]

Paul,

Just a few questions - probably fairly obvious:

1) Who does Benny rate as the top American kickboxer of all time (all styles, all weights) apart from himself? 2) After Rob Kaman defeated Blinky was there any consideration that Benny would move up in weight to middleweight to take on Kaman? 3) Which country did Benny find his hardest opponents tended to come from e.g. Japan, Thailand, Netherlands etc.

Cheers. Hope the interview goes well. jsmith006 (talk) 15:30, 10 July 2011

In answer to your questions, Benny said his answers to questions like these change somewhat depending on when you ask him because he always responds off the top of his head at the time. In general, however:
1) Benny does not know who would be the top American kickboxer of all time, but the most notable would be Bill "Superfoot" Wallace because he was the first universally acknowledged champion, he fought basically with only one leg and one hand, and he set the precedent for everyone who followed.
2) After his brother-in-law lost to Rob Kaman, Benny did try to move up. But he could never hold a comfortable fighting weight heavier than 151 pounds ... not really heavy enough to face Kaman.
3) Benny says Kunimatsu Okao, Butch Bell and Howard Jackson -- in that order -- were his most difficult opponents because they each hit so hard and were persistently dangerous every moment of their bouts. In terms of the nationality of his opponents, they were all difficult but for different reasons: The Japanese fought with honor and with heart; they never quit. The Mexicans also fought with heart, but they had much better hands. The Dutch were the most unpredictable and surprising. The Thais could take more punishment than anyone else; they were all do or die. You almost had to kill them to beat them. The Americans were the best chess players; you have to out-strategize American opponents.
Don Wilson established all the titles identified on the STAR website through 1991. I'm awaiting clarification from the last two titles. Also, Fred Royers has not yet gotten back to me about your Rob Kaman title question.
Paul Maslak (talk) 21:22, 20 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Need Mediation[edit]

{{helpme}}

Legkicker01 has reversed the corrections I made to Benny Urquidez's entry. Besides being inaccurate, I believe his language violates the original research and neutral POV rules. How do I appropriately address this issue?

Paul Maslak (talk) 07:32, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, Paul. You can handle this in a number of ways. You may want to see the dispute resolution page for detailed methods, but I would suggest going about it in this order.
  • Discuss the changes with him on the talk page. Try to reach a compromise.
  • Ask for a third opinion if discussion doesn't work.
  • If you're still having trouble, go to the dispute resolution noticeboard for community input. If you still can't reach a resolution, they will direct you to additional options. Best of luck, Swarm X 10:22, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fred Royers[edit]

Thank you very much. I was having difficulty finding more than a handful of his matches. I am also trying to expand the records of many other fighters of that time such as Dennis Alexio, Branko Cikatić and Kevin Rosier. Any information on them would be much appreciated. -- WölffReik (talk) 23:14, 15 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

WölffReik, I have Alexio's record until I discontinued the STAR ratings, including his early TKO loss as an amateur to Mike King. The PKA and STAR both removed that loss from his pro record because King was a seasoned pro; Alexio was just starting out. The match was a last-minute substitute that never should have been allowed: a novice unpaid amateur versus a paid pro world contender. Anyway, you're having trouble finding Alexio's early record because he changed his last name. Alexio is his mother's maiden name. I have Cikatic's rated bouts from that era, but I can probably still find a way to get to his manager/trainer to see what he can provide. Kevin Rosier became prominent after my tenure at STAR. I have nothing on him.
Paul Maslak (talk) 01:26, 16 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Jean-Yves Thériault (kickboxer)[edit]

Do you have any more info on this guys PKA title fights? I have managed to pin down about four but he's supposed to have defended this title over 20 years so I would assume he would have had more title defences. Also if you ever do a Rob Kaman interview please ask him when he won his I.K.B.F. world title (if he even won it) - it's been driving me crazy for the past couple of years. jsmith006 (talk) 08:34, 17 July 2011

Jsmith006, I'm in the midst of reviewing my Joe Lewis and Benny Urquidez ring histories directly with the champs. I'll update those records within a couple weeks.
After that, Jean-Yves Theriault will be the next record I post, followed by Dennis Alexio and Rob Kaman. I have their complete records with titles until we discontinued the STAR System world ratings. I've been in touch with Jean-Yves' brother recently, and I will ask the Theriaults to review my version of his record before I post.
I was one of the four ringside judges for the Wilson vs Theriault bout in Montreal. Since that event, Don Wilson and I have been good friends. Later, after the STAR ratings ceased, I managed Don for his Hollywood business affairs for a couple years. So my STAR website's record for "The Dragon" is absolute gospel. I note that the title attributions assigned to Don's Wikipedia entry are terribly confused. Perhaps you could fix that. (I don't have a lot of free time, and I've been concentrating of correcting factual errors that inappropriately tarnish championship reputations.) Meanwhile, when Don returns home from his current appearance tour, I'll ask him to contact Rob to answer your question directly. Also, I hope to hear from Fred Royers soon; I'll ask him to contact Rob as well.
As you probably realize, because of my previous work with the STAR ratings, I have a unique ability to query most of the early champions, officials, promoters and managers. If you have other factual questions you need answered from responsible sources, post the list on my talk page. I'll get to them little by little as time permits.
Paul Maslak (talk) 17:21, 17 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Even though I'm not planning to do too much new stuff on wikipedia due to recent deletion of articles I would definetely be more than happy to update any of the fighters records provided you can give me the full details. I may start creating newer stuff on other websites but any of the classic guys I can do here. Thanks for all of the above. jsmith006 (talk) 20:20, 17 July 2011
jsmith006 -- I'm still too new to Wikipedia to fully comprehend what you are battling with WP, AfD and notability issues. I created the website at http://starsystemkickboxing.net/default.aspx to preserve the accurate rings records of the "classic guys" who trusted and depended on me to keep their stories straight so many years ago. If you read my homepage, you'll see I have my own issues with the Wikipedia approach. To insure the accuracy of the STAR site, only noted reference author John Corcoran and I can access the content pages. On the homepage, listed in a column on the left are tabs to STAR ring records for the classic champions. I'll keep adding more champions as I have time. The historic records are not in an electronic format; everything depends on when I have time to create MS-Word documents. For the guys whose stories have been distorted, I'll also start posting interviews with them discussing their ring records. I leave the current crop of champions to well-intentioned and capable folks like you to keep straight. If I do anything further for kickboxing, it will be behind-the-scenes to help make kickboxing a more competitive spectator sport vis-a-vis MMA.
Paul Maslak (talk) 22:03, 17 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Will start working on Don Wilsons first - only thing I'm not sure is (using the Marek Piotrowski fight as an example) when you used vacated before a fight - for example did he lose the ISKA title against Marek or did he simply vacate it because he was moving up/down in weight. I'm sure Marek won the ISKA title at some point because he loses it to Roufus and then faces Kaman for his old title???? Once this is sorted I'll do a test version and post you a link. Cheers. jsmith006 (talk) 13:18, 18 July 2011

Wilson v Piotrowski was not sanctioned by ISKA. Their title was not at stake. However, under the rules for champions with most sanctioning bodies, if a champion loses a non-title fight or an unsanctioned title fight, you also vacate the original title. So when Don lost to Piotrowski, his ISKA title was vacated automatically; Don did not protest. The WKA title, however, was different. That title was at a lighter weight. Also, under WKA rules, when a WKA champion loses a non-title or unsanctioned fight, the champion's obligation is to stand ready to defend against that opponent in a WKA sanctioned title defense at the title weight. Don made himself available for such a rematch, but WKA promotional arrangements never came together. Don was living in Santa Moncia when this fight occurred, and I would see him fairly regularly. At the time of this bout, he had just returned from filming "Bloodfist" in the Philippines and had not been inside a gym for months. His first wife had thrown him out, left him with their infant son and filed for divorce. Don was literally living on a friend's living room couch with a baby in tow. He took the Piotrowski fight because he was temporarily desperate for cash to find an apartment and re-start his life. With all that, he lost to Piotrowski by a half point. Also, Don was without management at the time. Otherwise a protest and rematch might have been forthcoming. As it was, Don looked at that loss as a badge of honor for the sake of his son.

Same way Don looks at that underhanded behind-the-scenes fight-fixing loss in Thailand because, as Don says, he knew going in the only way he could win was by KO and he felt he should have KOed Samart even after the coerced last-minute 8-pound weight loss. That weight scam happened several more times in Thailand in that era with other Western fighters. A fight under those circumstances in the US would have been transmuted to a no-contest and the promoter would have been permanently shut down. People who are not close to the administration of ring sports do not understand what so much rapid weight loss does to a fighter: 1) It makes him exhausted from round one. 2) It interferes with his sense of equilibrium, making him unstable on his feet and much easier to knock down. 3) It minimizes the natural liquid shock absorber between the brain and the skull so that he becomes easier to knock out as well as very vulnerable to severe knockouts of the sort that could lead to coma or even death. 4) It flatters the lighter fighter who did not drop weight because it makes him look like a giant-killer.

Paul Maslak (talk) 15:18, 18 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Also 'Establishes ISKA Cruiserweight title' - does that mean he won the first ever version of that title or does it just mean he wins a vacant version. jsmith006 (talk) 13:32, 18 July 2011
You raise a good distinction. In the STAR records, we used "establishes" to mean either 1st version of the title or to fill a vacant title. Now that you raise the matter, I'll go through all the STAR records we publish on the STAR site and change the "filling a vacant title" context to "Re-establishes" so that the distinction is clear. Meanwhile, Fred Royers has just emailed me from Netherlands. I'll ask him to get your answer from Rob Kaman. I'll be interviewing Benny Urquidez over the next couple days. I'll get back to you with his answers to your questions as well.
Paul Maslak (talk) 14:40, 18 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Don "The Dragon" Wilson[edit]

Paul,

Have updated table - now on Don's wiki page. Have made all new titles inaugural so check to see if ok - think IKF and ISKA titles are probably for vacant titles as well established by then. Have also updated titles section. One question - 1991 Carmichael fight did Don 1) vacate his super light-heavyweight world title fight before taking on fight or 2) did he vacate the light-heavyweight title afterwards. CHeers. jsmith006 (talk) 17:40, 21 July 2011

jsmith006,
Very, very good work. I like what you've done: numbering title defenses and identifying weight limits and inaugural and vacant titles. My quibble would be over the term "full-contact". We regarded the sport as "kickboxing," although there was much debate about what to call it. When Joe Lewis kayoed Greg Baines in 1970, the ring announcer called it "American kickboxing". That name stuck until the inaugural PKA championships in September 1974. Then the name "professional full-contact karate" was introduced at Joe Lewis' insistence. At first, all the promoters liked the idea of retaining the name identification with traditional karate, hoping the name would help create fans among karate school kids. As time went on, other names were tried: just "full contact", "kickfighting", just "pro karate", etc. By August 1983, "kickboxing" was so much part of the vocabulary of people within the sport that the STAR ratings officially began using that name exclusively. The WKA quickly followed by changing its name from the "World Karate Association" to the "World Kickboxing Association".
Paul - reason I use full-contact instead of kickboxing is because you have the different rules set e.g. full-contact, low-kick (pretty sure Rob's WKA titles were under these rules) etc. Will leave them in for now but obviously will change if you have an alternative (maybe full-contact kickboxing - bit long though). Cheers. jsmith006 (talk) 18:35, 22 July 2011
Only error you made is that the Rodney Batiste fight was an elimination for Bill Wallace's vacated PKA Middleweight crown. Don Wilson became number-one contender for the PKA and STAR following that bout. Negotiations for a PKA title bout between Wilson and Theriault bogged down when neither camp could agree on venue. Both wanted it promoted in their hometowns. Wilson left the PKA after they presented their terms for challenging for the PKA title. Basically, a PKA affiliate would manage him, own 1/3 of any business ventures including seminars and his martial arts schools, and he would have to fight exclusively for the PKA. He chose to join Benny Urquidez as a free agent and fight for the WKA and others.
Will change this. Had to use a bit of guess work as WKA title followed quickly - my assumption (I'm not that knowledgable about US kickboxing being from Europe) was that PKA merged with WKA. jsmith006 (talk) 18:35, 22 July 2011
Meanwhile, you always raise excellent questions: The format I'm using for the ring records is inadequate for showing when titles have been vacated outside of the ring. Do you have any suggestions for showing that circumstance clearly? Maybe just a separate blank line within the chronology. Sometimes champions are removed for failing to defend in accordance with a sanction's rules for champions. For example, the PKA removed Benny Urquidez because he refused to sign their exclusivity agreement as precedent to his next PKA title defense. The PKA removed Steve Shepherd because he refused to allow ESPN to televise his last title defense against Earnest Hart until the PKA paid his arrears promoter's share from previous TV broadcasts. Shepherd probably had recourse to sue, but chose not to.
I'll add a bit to the title notes e.g. vacated title in 1984 etc. jsmith006 (talk) 18:37, 22 July 2011
Don Wilson voluntarily vacated his WKA Crusierweight World title effective 1 January 1984 (although STAR incorrectly carried that title for an extra month). He also voluntarily vacated his WKA Super Light-Heavyweight World title effective 1 October 1984. I think the WKA had some sort of rule about double title holders having six-months to decide which title to hold. There's a quirky story behind the super light-heavyweight title. The STAR weight divisions were largely based on the standard pro-boxing divisions established at the turn of the last century. We modified them slightly to accommodate the active weight limits of the major kickboxing sanctions, as well as to try to normalize the percentage increase in body weight between each weight demarcation. STAR created the super light-heavyweight division because it more closely matched an active PKA weight limit. At the time, WKA President Howard Hanson told me the WKA would never use it. Of course, when Alexio showed up overweight for Wilson's WKA title defense on NBC-TV, and Wilson had to climb out of a sick bed with a 102 temperature to be available for the telecast, Hanson decided to establish the WKA Super Light-Heavyweight World title. Although Alexio was scrappy and never quit, Wilson won the decision. Later, Don told me that "super light-heavyweight" was not the name of a pro boxing weight division, so he did not plan to defend the new title.
Of course, since then, many sanctions have used both the super light-heavyweight and the super middleweight division names begun by the STAR ratings.
I was Wilson's manager for the Gabe Carmichael title defense: only fight for which I was his manager. Our intent at the time was that he would retire from kickboxing and concentrate on the movie business. I wrote his retirement tribute as the cover story for Inside Kung-Fu Presents Kickboxing (August 1992). At some point down the road, we thought, if his movie career worked out and an appropriate offer came in with sufficient money on the table, he could return to the ring on a "guest appearance" basis to help promote the sport. So, yes, you have that one correct. He voluntarily relinquished his WKA Light-Heavyweight World title after that bout. Truthfully, when he came out of retirement for the subsequent bouts, I think he was just restless and missed the action.
IKF came to fruition after the STAR ratings, so I do not know the players in that organization except through common contacts. Eventually, I'll get someone to tell me what happened there. However, I believe Don established the inaugural ISKA titles. I sent ISKA HQS an email inquiry. But they're in the middle of preparing for an upcoming promotion. I'll have query them again when I can get their attention. ISKA President Mike Sawyer was one of the original STAR ring observers; he usually cooperates with my queries.
Benny Urquidez gave me a lot to chew on in his interview yesterday. I'll be revising his ring record over the coming week. Also, I'm going to clearly segregate muay Thai from kickboxing bouts in all STAR ring records. We always regarded them as separate sports. Today, I recognize that MMA allows a cross-pollination of techniques from both. But MMA also allows throws, takedowns and submissions ... the usual antidote for most muay Thai clinch-fighting. Without those elements in play, I think segregation is fair and appropriate for both kickboxers and muay Thai fighters. After all, the champions of both sports usually lost when they fought under the other rules.
Paul Maslak (talk) 21:33, 21 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Benny Urquidez[edit]

Paul - have updated Benny's fight record & titles in line with STAR records and have mentioned this in introduction to Benny's page. I have updated the top box to include his documented record & excludes the eleven unofficial pro fights (I'm assuming all fights were pro because it seems he had another loss at least in the amateur karate events). You will need to look at the titles to make sure I've got them right - I think a few inaugurals are missed and I wasn't sure if he vacated his KATOGI title or lost it. I'll look at updating Superfoot next. Let me know if there are any errors. Cheers. jsmith006 (talk) 16:33, 24 July 2011

Also his WKA titles (and others) were they low-kick without low-kick etc.
jsmith006, maybe you should wait a few days before doing more with Urquidez's record. I found some references to other early matches in historic martial arts magazines and I confirmed them with Benny in my interview. For example, in his very first event at the World Series of the Martial Arts Championships (WSMAC), he fought seven opponents whereas STAR only shows five. Also, I found mentions of a Los Angeles NKL bout against a member of the NY team. We don't have names for his opponents, but we can confirm that they happened. I've been communicating some with Legkicker01, I'm inviting him to contribute in an appropriate manner. He's a native Japanese speaker. He tells me Katogi is the wrong name for the sanctioning body. He may be right. I got that name from Benny's now-deceased manager rather than from the very competent half-American translator who worked for WKA Japan. I asked Legkicker01 to send me the correct Japanese name and a Japanese source for the name. Don Wilson's mother can translate Japanese martial arts terminology for me, and I have other friends who can translate routine printed material.
Meanwhile, technically, Benny only fought with low kicks ("leg kicks") prohibited for the PKA and against Billye Jackson. However, he was one of the sport's start-up champions. He fought under many rule variations at a time when, frankly, nobody quite knew what they were doing. Leg kicks may have been legal, but at the time that just meant judo footsweeps. Benny told me the first time he confronted real low kicks from a professional fighter was against Narongnoi Kiatbandit. After that, Benny learned how to do them and how to counter them.
I think we need to give more thought to how to show these rules distinctions on Wikipedia. Maybe there should be a separate column in the Wikipedia ring record that defines rules groups (above-the-waist only, low kicks, throws, clinch fighting, etc). As I said, when I ran the STAR ratings, we made aggressive clinch-fighting the divining line between kickboxing and muay Thai. That was the right distinction then, but times have changed. Muay Thai has more of a foothold now, and its techniques are allowed in mixed martial arts. (Personally, I favor clinch-fighting only if throws are also allowed, but in the US, such rule distinctions are determined more by the requirements for TV broadcasting.) Proposed ring record headers:
Date, Result, Weight, Opponent, Sanction, Rules, Location, Method, Round (Time), Record
If you want to discuss by email, my public email is: paul@starsystemkickboxing.net If you identify your Wikipedia name, I'll respond from my private email. Paul Maslak (talk) 21:16, 24 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
jsmith006, after studying the variable rules issue more thoroughly this weekend, I see I'm more behind the times than I realized. The dividing line is now between kickboxing and MMA rather than between kickboxing and muay Thai. For the early fighters, then, I think it fair to mention somewhere in a footnote that that's how things were viewed when they were active; perhaps show a record summary subtotal of fights counted that way. After that, I would propose the follow rule distinctions to be specified for each bout:
* FULL CONTACT – (PKA style) no striking below the waist, no clinch-fighting, no throws
* INTERNATIONAL – (WKA style) low kicks and sweeps allowed, no clinch-fighting, no throws
* ASIAN – (K-1 style, muay Euro) low kicks and sweeps allowed, knees to body and legs allowed, limited clinch-fighting permitted, no throws
* THAI – (muay Thai)low kicks allowed, knee and elbow strikes allowed, unlimited clinch-fighting allowed, no throws, scoring based on classic techniques
* CHINESE– (sanshou) low kicks and sweeps allowed, knees to body and legs allowed, limited clinch-fighting allowed, throws and takedowns allowed
* EXPERIMENTAL - variable rules in the early years or for mix-matches: knees and elbows permitted but no clinch-fighting, three-punch rule, etc.
Do you think we could get wiki project:kickboxing to back a new records template along these lines? Paul Maslak (talk) 06:58, 25 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Kickboxing: Please see this[edit]

Dear Paul Maslak, very glad to meet you. You may know, there are martial arts event articles under threat of being wiped out. I'm looking for any support from martial art supporters. I can type you in details in demanded, but since the times is ticking away, I believe you will get an understanding more less. Please see the links below:

Any helps appreciated, many thanks, Umi1903 (talk) 00:01, 31 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Jean-Claude Van Damme and his Opponents[edit]

Dear Mr. Maslak, honor to have you here. Lots of crontroversy regarding Van Damme and some of his opponents. First off, do you have a kickboxing record for Van Damme? Also, Micheal J. Heming, any fights listed for him? What about Sherman "Big Train" Bergman? Patrick Teugels? Thanks. December 26, 2011 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.231.208.202 (talk) 02:52, 27 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Everything I know about Jean-Claude Vanvarenberg's (Van Damme) record is contained on my historic kickboxing website at http://starsystemkickboxing.net/JeanClaudeVanDamme.aspx. I cannot verify any professional bouts for Vanvarenberg. (Amateur records were not maintained in that era.) I can, however, verify many semi-contact and light-contact tournament matches for Vanvarenberg. Patrick Teugels was a 1979 WAKO semi-contact vice champion, meaning 1st runner-up for WAKO's amateur championship. To the best of my knowledge, Michael Heming was never prominent as a kickboxer; he was primarily a point fighter in Europe. At one time I did have Sherman Bergman's kickboxing record buried in deep storage. I'll eventually search for it. Many of the records from competitors outside of the Top-10 were destroyed when my storage area flooded a few years ago. I will confirm, though, that Bergman was a ranked designated contender in the STAR ratings, meaning he was ranked between 11-20 in the world.
Paul Maslak (talk) 07:25, 27 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Records For Van Damme's Opponents[edit]

Sir, Do you have info/record for Mustapha Ahmad Benamou, Lenny Leikman, Sherman Bergman, Nedjad Gharbi. This guys are always linked to Van Damme's kickboxing. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.231.209.12 (talk) 16:54, 8 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Both Jean-Claude Vanvarenberg and Sherman Bergman agree that Vanvarenberg defeated Bergman in amateur competition at the tournament-style 1979 WAKO world games in Tampa, Florida. The promoter of the event, Mike Anderson, could not verify whether the Vanvarenberg-Bergman competition was under full-contact or semi-contact rules, or even whether the match occurred at all. I have revisited this question with Mike Anderson on many occasions since 1983, including a few months ago. His records are gone and he does not remember either Bergman or Vanvarenberg at that event. Harold Roth, captain of the US team at that event, does not remember seeing Vanvarenberg and insists that Bergman was not on the US team. Regardless, if Vanvarenberg had been present, he must have lost his next match at that event because he did not even place in the official event results.
I have no records regarding the other opponents mentioned above. Former WKA World Champion and Director of European Operations Fred Royers investigated Vanvarengerg's kickboxing history in Europe on two occasions on the STAR ratings' behalf in 1984 and again in 2011. He could find no history of either pro or amateur bouts although, he admits, amateur bouts were not recorded. If Vanvarenberg had a series of kickboxing bouts as a young man, why don't you find any video footage of those bouts on YouTube? ALL of the recognized champions can produce video evidence recorded by independent third parties, such as television networks. The complete absence of such video should tell you something about Vanvarenberg's ring history.
Paul Maslak (talk) 18:50, 8 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]


What about the records on Wikipedia for Michael J. Heming and Sherman Bergman? I though these guys was pros? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.231.210.125 (talk) 20:55, 10 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The records for Michael J. Heming and Sherman Bergman have magically shown up on Wikipedia fairly recently whereas previously there was nothing. The STAR ratings archives do not corroborate them. Without legitimate corroboration, I do give them much credibility. I'm naturally suspicious about such detailed records that were not known in the era in which the bouts supposedly occurred nor in the intervening decades. Bergman was a pro fighter, but most of his career was as an amateur. He was ranked as a STAR Designated Contender based on one pro fight. Designated contender meant that he was briefly eligible to fight a Top-10 contender. He would have had to defeat a major contender to earn a Top-10 ranking. He never did. I don't know very much about Heming. The Wikipedia record identifies two fights with Gary Daniels whom I know personally. Gary mostly fought as an amateur. I'll try to contact Gary to find out what he knows. If Gary gets back to me, I'll post his reply below.
Paul Maslak (talk) 21:29, 10 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I thought Heming was a Professional Karate Middleweight Champion of Europe? Was he defeated by British Champion Frank Brennan? It says he beat Lloyd Brown for the title and lost it to Van Damme by knockout. The Wiki record lists both kicknoxing & semi contact for Heming. I saw a link that Bergman knocked out a Thai opponent Morsak Muangsu and the fight was linked to Official Karate Magazine. He was listed as 13-1 in the magazine. I'm just trying to figure out if Van Damme beat anyone decent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.231.210.125 (talk) 22:11, 10 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Frankly, I am suspicious of every kickboxing bout credited to Van Damme (aka Vanvarenberg). Here's why:
1) I worked as the casting director and publicist for the film "No Retreat, No Surrender." In that capacity, I helped cast Jean-Claude in his first theatrical film. In 1985, my business partner and I had dinner with Jean-Claude and his second wife shortly before that film's release so that I could collect biographical information for the film's press kit. At that time, Jean-Claude told me the only kickboxing bout he ever had was against Patrick Teugels at the Forest Nationals arena in Belgium on the undercard of Dan Macaruso's PKA world title defense against Dominique Valera, one of Jean-Claude's trainers. As you can find documented on the STAR website at www.starsystemkickboxing.net, that bout was an amateur semi-contact bout. Van Damme considered it significant because he scored a win over the WAKO semi-contact vice-champion of the world. Teugels, by the way, was also Van Damme's teammate on the WAKO semi-contact team for Belgium. At any rate, I have always understood what Van Damme told me face to face to mean that Teugels was the only recognized quality opponent he ever fought. We know from contemporaneous martial arts magazine coverage that that bout was under amateur semi-contact rules. Furthermore, Van Varenberg (Van Damme) told me very clearly in front of witnesses that he never fought as a professional. Period.
2) No one within the STAR Ratings' international network of ring observers ever saw or know of a ring bout involving Van Damme other than his match against Teugels at the Macaruso-Valera event. I even asked PKA owner Joe Corley to search his video archives from that event. Corley could not find the bout. He thinks the cameras were turned off because Van Damme's bout was semi-contact and amateur. (Believe me, if Corley had video footage of Van Damme in competition, he'd be only too willing to release it to the public as a commercial video.) If Van Damme had a significant professional kickboxing bout under any major sanction against any major opponent, video would still exist today somewhere. No such video has ever turned up.
My main criticism of Wikipedia is that anyone can attribute fight results to anyone without any serious scrutiny. Amateur records can be made to look the same as professional records. Point fighting can be made to look the same as professional world championships. They are not the same. It's like comparing a high school basketball team to a professional world championship team, or amateur touch football to the Superbowl. It's just ridiculous. High School is not the same as Olympic, Olympic is not the same as professional. The competitive records of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sherman Bergman, Michael J. Heming and even Gary Daniels do not remotely compare with the pro records a Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, a Rob Kaman, a Don "The Dragon" Wilson or a Bill "Superfoot" Wallace. The former were almost exclusively amateurs at the most rudimentary level of competition. The latter were top professionals who competed at the highest levels of global competition.
Paul Maslak (talk) 23:39, 10 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]


Thanks for the info, but I am not trying two compare Van Damme To Benny The Jet or Dragon Wilson. I agree they are Hall of Famers. But as a Van Damme fan, I'm trying to piece his record together. If he was an amateur kickboxer that's all right, I just want to know if he beat any decent fighters. I figure his two biggest wins were over Patrick Teugels and Michael J. Heming. I see where the Teugels fight at the Forest Nations was billed as light-contact, but photos show the fight in a boxing ring. Van Damme's knockout over Lenny Leickman, the photo shows boxing gloves but no ring. Heming fought Frank Brennan and Brennan was one of Great Britian's top karate champs. As for Sherman Bergman, links on Wiki to flickr show what appears to at least a 19-2 pro record. As a Van Damme fan, I just think if Jean-Claude beat these three guys, it at least shows to all his haters that in his day he was a legit fighter. He was no Hall of Fame great, but he was legit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.231.212.3 (talk) 02:00, 11 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a YouTube link to a 1979 Van Damme match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0pnfzVESWw — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.231.212.3 (talk) 02:03, 11 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]


Thanks for that link. I think it's great to be a Van Damme fan. He's done a lot for the martial arts through his films, and that's a worthy accomplishment.
This is the only competitive footage I've ever seen for Vanvarenberg. I hope you noticed that it was point-fighting competition.
The reason Van Damme has many detractors is because he likes to claim that he won a world kickboxing title. It began as part the PR campaign for "Bloodsport" and "Kickboxer", and he's just never dropped it. So the genuine world kickboxing champions have good reason to call him on it. I can tell you that Joe Lewis, whom we regard as the father of modern kickboxing, along with Bill Wallace and Don Wilson all condemn Van Damme for this bogus claim. If Van Damme just told the truth, they'd show him due respect for his film accomplishments as well as for his amateur point-fighting achievements. As for his sport record, Jean-Claude was a very legitimate point-fighter. He fought on the WAKO semi-contact Belgian team that won a team championship that year. I'm guessing this video comes from one of his WAKO matches in Europe. The referee looks very much like early tournament karate competitor Bob Wall. So Van Damme was no slouch as a point-fighter. But it was point-fighting, not kickboxing.
The Teugels match was conducted inside a kickboxing ring, but the rules were clearly reported as semi-contact. In that era, putting semi-contact bouts inside a kickboxing ring for the preliminary undercard was not that unusual. Promoters would fill out a pro card with a few amateur kickboxing and/or semi-contact matches either because they could not afford a total pro card or because there weren't enough qualified competitors available in the area. I remember when PKA world champion Jean-Yves Theriault's promoter Real Masse was finally able to offer an all pro fight card: It became a featured story in the martial arts magazines because he was the first promoter to do it on a regular basis. In the Van Varenberg-Teugels bout, Teugels injured himself and quit. Officially, that's a forfeit due to injury. My understanding is that Van Varenberg and Teugels fought each other on several occasions. But Teugels was the WAKO semi-contact vice-champion at the time of this match and, on the European tournament circuit, that meant something.
I doubt the Lenny Leickman match was full-contact kickboxing. Those same gloves were also sometimes used for semi-contact competition. I suspect the authentic outcome of this match was not a knockout (clearly they are not fighting inside a padded ring) but, rather, either a forfeit due to injury or a foul disqualification.
Sherman Bergman was not a pro, and was not ranked as a STAR designated contender until many years after his alleged 1979 encounter with Van Varenberg.
I cannot comment further on Michael J. Heming. STAR did not follow his career. However, I have emailed Gary Daniels about him. I'll post his response here if he gets back to me. Also, I'll send your video link of Vanvarenberg's tournament footage to Mike Anderson for his verification that it came from the 1979 WAKO team championships.
Paul Maslak (talk) 04:07, 11 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]


Wouldn't it clear up a lot of controversy if you or one of your associates "cleaned-up" any errors on Van Damme's posted record. If information is available on Jean-Claude's matches, why not just post them on his Wikipedia page. Why doesn't Gary Daniels send in his complete fight record and have it posted (if the one on Wiki has errors). This Bergman guy, if you have his fight record, why not post it on his Wiki page. Also, maybe your European contacts have Michael J. Heming record? I'm just pointing out, that since Jean-Claude Van Damme is so popular, why not just clear up any controversies. Again, I'm not saying Van Damme was the greatest martial arts fighter ever, but he did compete and he clearly beat some decent opponents. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.231.212.150 (talk) 03:20, 12 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Everything I can validate I post on www.starsystemkickboxing.net as my time allows: Steve Shepherd, Graciela Casillas, Jean-Yves Theriault and Dennis Alexio are coming next.
I've given up trying to police Wikipedia records, especially for someone as high-profile as Van Damme (Van Varenberg). Whatever I may correct, some random fan or spin doctor publicist will change back to whatever fantasy they want to promote. I only intervene when I spot something egregiously inappropriate that libels a past champion like Benny Urquidez. Van Damme fought on the tournament circuit and defeated a few good amateur point fighters. He was also defeated a few times. Van Damme is a great martial artist, with great technical form. That's why I played my small role in helping him get started in film. But fighting for film is more similar to two-man sets for kata competition than to a real fight. Furthermore, amateur is amateur. Amateur competition should never be represented as equal to professional. Wikipedia often does not make that distinction and that's disturbing. At least someone has changed Van Damme's record to specify semi-/light-contact and amateur kickboxing. On your behalf, I'll poll a few of my remaining kickboxing contacts in Europe about Heming and see what turns up. Gary Daniels has not yet responded to my email; he may be working on a film or maybe he's changed his email address. Gary's not ducking the query; he has always been very open and very straight forward with me. Bergman's record may still be buried in my storage area, or it may have been destroyed when my previous storage space was flooded in 2002. Regardless, I do not have the time or physical energy to conduct a thorough search for it at this particular time. Eventually, I'll get around to it. But please try to put this into perspective: there's no real hurry here. We're talking about relatively inconsequential amateur fight results from three decades ago.
My primary purpose is to provide accurate verification for the pro kickboxing records of major champions from the STAR ratings era because I feel I owe that to those champions who relied on the STAR ratings. STAR never focused on the amateurs. I only entered the fray about Van Damme to separate known verifiable facts from bogus publicist claims. It was not right for Van Damme's camp to claim equivalence with name pro-kickboxing champions, but it was also not right for the name kickboxing champions to say that Van Damme did nothing as an amateur. Being a member of the dominant 1979 WAKO semi-contact championship national team was regarded as a noteworthy accomplishment in Europe. (WAKO was organized by country like in the Olympics. Belgium won the 1979 team championship.)
Paul Maslak (talk) 05:04, 12 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No Disrespect, but Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD) was great in his days! I have link here: [1] from 1984 Official Karate Magazine. Barry Harrell said the Sherman "Big Train" Bergman, 12-1, 12 KO was a promising fighter. JCVD knocked Bergman out! JCVD KO'd Patrick Teugels in 1 round and broke his nose. Teugels said in his interview it was his only knockout lost! JCVD knocked out Michael J. Heming in under 1 minute. Heming was champion of Europe 69kg.! JCVD was 18-1, 18 knockouts in Kickboxing. He was great! Amateur or professional, not important. ```PeterHeughan — Preceding unsigned comment added by PeterHeughan (talk • contribs) 19:33, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Peter, hero worship is not proof. If there were any verifiable evidence that Van Varenberg had an 18-1 kickboxing record, I would tell you. I have no agenda other than the facts. I am a former editor of Inside Kung-Fu magazine, former commissioner of the STAR / WKA / KICK world kickboxing ratings, and a professional journalist. Believe me, I have seen nothing credible from reliable sources to confirm an 18-1 kickboxing claim for Vanvarenberg. Only publicist nonsense manufactured after Van Damme began starring in movies. I know Hollywood blarney when I see it, you should not be so naive. Find me contemporaneously published fight coverage from a legitimate magazine or newspaper, or records from a major sanctioning body, or verifiable television fight coverage, or corroborative testimonials from major players on the scene at the time. I'll accept those things as proof.
For three decades now, I have not been able to locate any credible person on the kickboxing scene in Europe during Vanvarenberg's competitive years who remembers seeing him inside a kickboxing ring. Certainly not on the pro circuit. Beginning years ago, I verified what appears on the STAR website with French reporter Jean-Paul Maillet who covered the Macaruso-Valera bout and was sitting at ringside for the match between Van Varenberg and Teugels. I also verified my reportage with Mike Anderson, a PKA and WAKO co-founder and promoter the the 1979 WAKO tournament, as well as with journalist and former WKA World Champion Fred Royers of Holland. These are very professional and very responsible sources.
You have seen Van Damme's own video from a WAKO tournament in Europe. Van Varenberg was clearly engaged in semi-contact competition. Do you see any reason to believe that video validates a full-contact competitive history? My website posts the official WAKO results from the 1979 WAKO championships. Van Varenberg did not place in the finals or even the semi-finals. That means, if he competed in that event, someone defeated him at that tournament. Where's that result? I'm sorry, the amateur kickboxing record posted on Wikipedia for Van Damme has no credibility. At the 1979 WAKO tournament, Sherman Bergman would have been a total beginner, not the more seasoned fighter mentioned by my friend Barry Harrell in 1984. Five years is a long time in the career of an active kickboxer. Also, Barry was reporting the summary record given to him by Bergman's manager. Harrell did not verify it. I would further mention that both the tournament promoter, Mike Anderson, and the captain of the US team, Harold Roth, deny that either Sherman Bergman or Jean-Claude Vanvarenberg were at that event at all!
I agree that Van Damme was and is a great martial artist. But, so far, the only major competitive accomplishment I can verify is that he was a member of Belgium's semi-contact team that won a WAKO championship, and that he defeated WAKO semi-contact vice-champion Patrick Teugels in 1980. That's not chopped liver.
Paul Maslak (talk) 20:56, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Museum hacks and museum edits[edit]

Hello there!

Upcoming events:

  • February 6–8: The third annual ArtBytes Hackathon at the Walters Art Museum! This year Wikimedia DC is partnering with the Walters for a hack-a-thon at the intersection of art and technology, and I would like to see Wikimedia well represented.
  • February 11: The monthly WikiSalon, same place as usual. RSVP on Meetup or just show up!
  • February 15: Wiki Loves Small Museums in Ocean City. Mary Mark Ockerbloom, with support from Wikimedia DC, will be leading a workshop at the Small Museum Association Conference on how they can contribute to Wikipedia. Tons of representatives from GLAM institutions will be present, and we are looking for volunteers. If you would like to help out, check out "Information for Volunteers".

I am also pleased to announce events for Wikimedia DC Black History Month with Howard University and NPR. Details on those events soon.

If you have any questions or have any requests, please email me at james.hare@wikimediadc.org.

See you there! – James Hare

(To unsubscribe, remove your username here.) 03:11, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

Wikimedia DC celebrates Black History Month, and more![edit]

Hello again!

Not even a week ago I sent out a message talking about upcoming events in DC. Guess what? There are more events coming up in February.

First, as a reminder, there is a WikiSalon on February 11 (RSVP here or just show up) and Wiki Loves Small Museums at the Small Museum Association Conference on February 15 (more information here).

Now, I am very pleased to announce:

There is going to be a lot going on, and I hope you can come to some of the events!

If you have any questions or need any special accommodations, please let me know.


Regards,

James Hare


(To unsubscribe, remove your username here.) 18:20, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

Editing for Women's History in March[edit]

Hello,

I am very excited to announce this month’s events, focused on Women’s History Month:

  • Sunday, March 8: Women in the Arts 2015 Edit-a-thon – 10 AM to 4 PM
    Women in the Arts and ArtAndFeminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Free coffee and lunch served!
    More information • RSVP on Meetup
  • Wednesday, March 11: March WikiSalon – 7 PM to 9 PM
    An evening gathering with free-flowing conversation and free pizza.
    More information • RSVP on Meetup (or just show up!)
  • Friday, March 13: NIH Women's History Month Edit-a-Thon – 9 AM to 4 PM
    In honor of Women’s History Month, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is organizing and hosting an edit-a-thon to improve coverage of women in science in Wikipedia. Free coffee and lunch served!
    More information • RSVP on Meetup
  • Saturday, March 21: Women in STEM Edit-a-Thon at DCPL – 12 PM
    Celebrate Women's History Month by building, editing, and expanding articles about women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields during DC Public Library's first full-day edit-a-thon.
    More information • RSVP on Meetup
  • Friday, March 27: She Blinded Me with Science, Part III – 10 AM to 4 PM
    Smithsonian Institution Archives Groundbreaking Women in Science Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Free lunch courtesy of Wikimedia DC!
    More information • RSVP on Meetup
  • Saturday, March 28: March Dinner Meetup – 6 PM
    Dinner and drinks with your fellow Wikipedians!
    More information • RSVP on Meetup

Hope you can make it to an event! If you have any questions or require any special accommodations, please let me know.


Thanks,

James Hare

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, remove your name from this list. 02:25, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Upcoming attractions in DC[edit]

Hello!

Here are some upcoming DC meetups in April and May:

  • Tuesday, April 14: National Archives Hackathon on Wikipedia Space with American University – 2:30-5pm
    See the latest work on the Wikipedia Space exhibit in the new NARA Innovation Hub and brainstorm on new ideas for a public exhibit about Wikipedia
  • Friday, April 17: Women in Tech Edit-a-thon with Tech LadyMafia – 5-9pm
    Team up with Tech LadyMafia to improve Wikipedia content on women in the history of technology.
  • Saturday, April 25: April Dinner Meetup – 6 PM
    Dinner and drinks with your fellow Wikipedians!
  • Friday, May 1: International Labour Day Edit-a-Thon – 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM
    An edit-a-thon at the University of Maryland

Hope to see you at these events! If you have any questions or require any special accommodations, please let me know.


Cheers,

James Hare

To remove yourself from this mailing list, remove your name from this list. 22:18, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open![edit]

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:46, 24 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

February events and meetups in DC[edit]

Greetings from Wikimedia DC!

February is shaping up to be a record-breaking month for us, with nine scheduled edit-a-thons and several other events:

We hope to see you at one—or all—of these events!

Do you have an idea for a future event? Please write to us at info@wikimediadc.org!

Kirill Lokshin (talk) 16:41, 10 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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March events and meetups in DC[edit]

Greetings from Wikimedia DC!

Looking for something to do in DC in March? We have a series of great events planned for the month:

Can't make it to an event? Most of our edit-a-thons allow virtual participation; see the guide for more details.

Do you have an idea for a future event? Please write to us at info@wikimediadc.org!

Kirill Lokshin (talk) 16:30, 6 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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  1. ^ http://www.flickr.com/photos/64766764@N03/6696360973/in/photostream
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