Brian Nelson

Brian is one of Britain’s leading martial arts exponents. He has traveled the world far and wide entering and winning tournaments. Recent tournaments have seen him come away with British, European and World titles and with nearly 30 years of experience he has what it takes to coach and pass on his skills to other people interested in learning martial arts and self defense. The style which Brian teaches is Lau-Gar Kung Fu – a soft form of Chinese Boxing first brought over to England in the seventies by Master Jeremy Yau – who’s leading club is based in Birmingham.

The holder of three world, three European championships and countless British titles, Brian is considered to be the country’s top instructor of Lau Gar Kung fu and Kickboxing.

He has appeared in and on the covers of martial arts magazines, chiefly COMBAT Magazine and Martial Arts Illustrated expressing his thoughts on training, competitions, traditional techniques – a solid advocate – and fellow practitioners and opponents.

3 x World Champion

MAI Grand Champion

SKO Grand Champion

2 x European Champion

Deerfield Beach (America) Open Champion

National Semi- Contact Super League Grand Champion

And, many, many more………

BRIAN NELSON; THE ART OF ANALYSIS.
INTERVIEW BY MALCOLM MARTIN.

Like fellow world champion Sean Viera, Brian Nelson is part of a dying breed, flamboyant characters, names that the paying public recognise and enjoy watching. In many other sports Brian would be a wealthy man but outside of the hundreds of trophies, his only reward is the satisfaction of knowing he is the best. The fast talking man from Stoke is not bitter, merely reflective, as he ponders the direction his career might have taken if he chosen his other love, boxing, as his full-time profession. Thoughtful and articulate, Brian is a thinking mans fighter, always analysing the opposition, learning and adapting, constantly ensuring that he has the edge that has kept him at the top for so long. Obviously talented, it was a pleasure to discover that he was also a genuinely nice guy with an enduring passion for the sport he has mastered despite the lack of financial reward.Block and finger strike

COM: So, when did you start in the martial arts Brian?

BN: Now you’re asking me. It started one Sunday, with a group of us, and a big martial arts film that was on at the pictures. So I went to see this film and after we went to one or two places to see what it (martial arts) was like. I went to Judo and had one lesson. It wasn’t for me, getting thrown all around the place and somebody mentioned that they did Kung Fu in Stoke, where I lived, and I saw George Shore kicking someone around the ears, the end of their nose, and I thought yeah, give me some of that! Carl Henry was with him and some of the things this guy could do, if he was on the tournament scene he would have beaten all the top guys. I would go into the lesson and he would be in horse-riding stance. I would get changed, have a chat, and he’d still be there. His abs were like thick rubber bands.

COM: What age were you then?

BN: I was about 16. I’d also done a lot of boxing, my brother was a professional boxer, had a number of fights, and I could have followed, I had a couple of boxing bouts but I loved Kung Fu.

COM: What was the lure of the Kung Fu?

BN: The funny thing was, I had been in the gym boxing and I kept wanting to pick my left foot up to kick the guy. The boxing did help my tournament career, though, especially with the hand speed and the fitness side, it worked really well with the Kung Fu techniques and the kicks.

COM: When did your tournament career start?

BN: To tell you the truth when I started Kung Fu I never knew about tournaments. Nobody said, so I think I must have read about them in Combat. I told George I wanted to get a team together but I don’t know if he had the belief in me. A tournament came up, I think I was still a white belt, and in those days you fought any one and I was against this Karate guy, about six foot, and he knocked me from one end of the mats to the other. I don’t think I scored a point!

COM: Didn’t that discourage you?

BN: No. If you watch some of these younger guys, they lose, are out of the tournament, so they go home. I think that’s really bad. When I started, even when I got beaten, I would stay and watch them all. Not just the Kung Fu but the Tae kwon do and the Karate, everybody. I’d know all the names of the good fighters and study their technique and when I got back to the club I would see how I would move against that by finding somebody at the club with a similar style. That way when I came up against the guy in a tournament I found I could beat them. Now when I take my students to a tournament and they lose, I say don’t go home. Stay and watch your category, see what they’re doing.

COM: When did you start that real winning streak?

BN: At first I just kept losing, but I brushed myself down and go again. I’d go to tournaments every week and I’d lose every week. I was just so determined to be like the top guys. I read somewhere that fear is worry and worry is crippling, so I thought fear? Forget it. Then I started winning and I’ve never looked back. It got to the stage where people would not fight in my category because they knew I was going to win. I wouldn’t be outwardly cocky, but I just had that feeling inside. The little guys coming into the sport today, it just needs someone behind them saying look kid, if you lose just brush yourself down and go again. Too many are willing to make excuses but I say if you lose, you lose. Go back to your club and train on it, harder, until you win, then once you win you train to stay on top because once you start winning people will train even harder to beat you.
Sword Set
COM: And what titles did that attitude take you to?

BN: I won everything. Name a tournament and I won it. Obviously the most memorable was when I first won the World Championships. I was on the television as the Stoke On Trent Sports Personality of the year, which was nice to be recognised. Most of the time you are only known by the people in the martial arts, it’s not like being a boxer or a footballer. The glory of being champion goes very quickly.

COM: I find it sad that by the time you reach the senior finals, with by implication the best fighters, most of the crowd has gone home, what do you feel?

BN: It’s always been the same. I don’t know if it’s down to organisation but sometimes they start late and finish late. I think most people don’t want to be there from ten in the morning and still be there at eight at night. When we’ve been to America for World Championships, you get there at ten, thousands and thousands of people there but it finishes dead on four. If that was England you would still be there two days later.

COM: This may sound stupid but why don’t they put the seniors on first? They could then devote time to their students without worrying about their own preparation and more of the crowd would stay.

BN: I think you’ve got a very good point there. I’ve only ever seen that happen once but everyone started moaning. If you looked at the Combat Opens people did stay because there was a big fish at the end, a bout that everyone wanted to see. if that was integrated into the tournaments that might work but I agree with you, there has to be something that makes them want to stay right until the end. You have to have the bait to catch the fish.

COM: Do you ever wish you had pursued the boxing, given the different levels of “success”?

BN: You’ve put me on the spot there. Talking from my heart, and not wishing to discourage youngsters, but if I had my time again I would go into the boxing. With everything I’ve won in martial arts you can fill my mum’s attic and my loft in my house, and all the trophies that are there if I had the money to go with them, I would have quite a lot of financial backing by now. It breaks my heart to say that but it’s the truth. The determination that I’ve put into the martial arts I would have channelled into the boxing and I’m sure I would have done well.

COM: Now you have a son of your own, what would you like to see him do?

BN: I would like him to box, he does train in the martial arts and he does want to compete, but I seriously wonder is it worth it for him. Is there really a future in it?

COM: When you were first starting out, who were the guys that made you want to stay right until the end?

BN: Frank Lynch, Neville Wray, Steve Babb, Clive Parkinson, a young Alfie Lewis and I must be honest some of the Karate guys but I can’t remember their names. Also Kenny Walton, Ron Sergiew. There was one guy, Mark Aston, he wasn’t just a good martial artist, he was a genuinely nice guy. He used to look after me at tournaments and he should have made it as a film star, his technique was beautiful. When I was first fighting I fought him and he could have blasted me out but he took it easy, just did enough to win without hurting me and I learned from him. I’ve been to tournaments where guys have fought lesser opponents and tried to kill them. Why? They’re not proving a point. I learnt from Mark not to do this.

COM: All those names are real characters. Apart from yourself, Sean Vierra, Faizel Mohamed, I couldn’t come up with a comparable list.

BN: The tournament scene just doesn’t have any characters any more. In those days you knew the fighters were good to watch and you could take part in a good fight yourself. Now if I go to a tournament there’s no atmosphere, it’s lifeless.
Front kick
COM: Why weren’t those “glory” days a springboard to even greater heights?

BN: Somehow it seemed that the tournaments stopped, and it was like boom, everything had gone, the characters, the tournaments, I took a year out because there was nothing happening, no motivation. In those days I used to get three or four people come up to me and say “I’m going to beat you today” and that used to give me a real buzz. I think with the fighters it became a case of would you go to work for nothing? At all those tournaments the public came to see the fighters and what were the fighters getting out of that? They weren’t getting looked after. It’s like a premiership manager not paying the players. That I feel is where it’s been lost.

COM: For some reason money seems to be a dirty word in the martial arts.

BN: I look at it this way, there’s always going to be people who are jealous of other instructors if their clubs are doing well, or better than theirs. There will always be that “well he’s this” or “he’s that” and it takes us down into the gutter because if a man does well we want to bring him down. That was a difference I noticed between England and America.

COM: What was different about the American circuit?

BN: When we first went to America we could not believe the concept. I remember one girl came straight up to me and said who’s your sponsor? I didn’t know what she was on about! They couldn’t understand why we travelled all that way without sponsorship, even the kiddies had sponsors. I love it going over there. One year we must have gone back three or four times. They take it seriously, you get more credibility, nobody puts you down and everybody has the chance to do what they want to do. In England if you’re a winner they want you to be a loser. In America they love winners.

COM: The ironic thing was that the likes of you and Sean Vierra were going over there and winning.

BN: We used to watch some of the fighters do the forms competitions and they were fantastic. I’ll tell you straight, in England I never normally watch the competitions, they bore me. When I go to America I could go to a tournament just to watch them do their forms, it is so superior. The biggest disappointment I got was that when it came time for these guys to do the fighting, they couldn’t fight. They fought like pumpkins! Fighting is important over there but the emphasis is on being technically good.

COM: So what’s the answer? Do we simply adopt the American system?

BN: I think somebody needs to come in, look at it, and shake it up. It’s like a top football team that’s gone into the Vauxhall conference and it will keep going lower unless something is done. Sponsorship will only happen properly with television coverage. At the moment if a big firm sponsors you, you got lucky, I know because I’ve tried, they want to see you on the television with their name on your back. The martial arts in this country is still too amateurish. At the last world championships I was drug-tested and it really bugged me. I thought if I was a professional earning loads and loads of money I could understand it but as an amateur why should I bother? I’m not getting anything out of it and you really think why am I here?

COM: That’s a good point. Do you see yourself as a tournament competitor or a martial artist?

BN: A little bit of both. I want to be the coach and the fighter, coaching them to win but also coaching them towards that black belt. I teach them the syllabus, I don’t want to be known as just a fighter but as an instructor who knows his syllabus well and can put it across. I want fighters to show the skill of the art at a tournament

COM: Having won everything going, how do you stay motivated?

BN: As I told you, I took a year out and I don’t know if it was just because I was fed up, there’s no goal to go for, something has got to be put into the sport to motivate us. At the moment nothing like that is happening. Martial arts has been here for years but look at the way it’s been overtaken by the likes of basketball and ice hockey, I can’t put my finger on it. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I’d help out the martial arts and promote a league system. That’s what the tournament scene needs, a set-up like the football league but it will need big money to achieve that. Money and regulation, to prevent greed wasting the money. At the moment I still fight because I love it, the buzz, but I have that feeling less and less because I see no new challenges coming through.Sword Set salutation

COM: Finally Brian, your future plans?

BN: Doing what I’m doing now, trying to teach and run clubs successfully. My biggest ambition was to have a full-time gymnasium but it’s finding the right location at the right cost. I hear so many horror stories about bad instructors, so I want to build by doing things right and by acting and teaching professionally.

COM: Thank-you for your time Brian.

BN: It’s been a pleasure.

Brian Nelson talks about fear, losing, salt of the earth competitors and just who he’d like a one-to-one with.

Over the years Brian Nelson has been a very consistent member of the British Lau Gar squad, and, considering his achievements, up until now has received little publicity. This could, I suppose, be due to the fact that he prefers to let his actions on the mat do all the talking. In this exclusive interview Brian talks about his career as a Lau Gar foot soldier and his future goals as a full-time martial arts instructor.

Bob Sykes: O.K. Brian, three world titles, numerous amounts of British titles, the Super League grand title… what’s next for Brian Nelson?Side Kick

Brian Nelson: Well Bob, at the moment I’m just putting my feet up. I’ve fought in most of this country’s leading tournaments, won most of them. Nowadays, I just want to do things in my own time and at my own pace. I am still doing all my own personal training and I am also planning on doing a marathon run. As to your question, what’s next fro me? I will still concentrate on tournaments and watching who is out there. I am trying to bring a lot of my students through the ranks because I think I have a few who are potential fighters of the future. Also, I have decided to focus attention on the clubs that I teach at, especially on developing the kids. So with tournaments I will go along and either fight for fun or spend time being a ref.

BS: Looking around, I see most of our generation adopting that very same attitude. Do you find that nowadays you’re actually enjoying and indulging certain aspects of life which you previously missed when you were perhaps busy fighting every weekend?

BN: Nowadays, I can sit down and think ‘Oh, I’m gonna do this on Sunday’, rather than thinking ‘Oh, Sunday, I’ve got this tournament or I’m fighting at that tournament’. Instead, if I choose to wash the car, or go and watch a team play football, whereas in the past I’d have to rush around doing this and that because the majority of my time had been taken up both preparing for and attending tournaments. It also gives me a lot more time to spend with my family who have previously been second to martial arts first. Sometimes in the back of your mind there is a guilty feeling of not being at home every Sunday, or never being in when friend call round.

BS: Looking back, what was it that initially got you to embark on your martial journey, and when you did start training did you envisage you’d still be ding it today?

BN: No. not really, when I first started I was just doing it for a bit of fun. Many of my fellow students used to beat me up in the sparring sessions!. I subsequently, by paying more attention, asked more questions and trained a bit harder, slowly turned it around and after a while I even pasting a few of the bigger guys. Years later I witnessed people such as Steve Babbs and Frank Lynch in action and they really inspired me, so much so that I wanted to be like them. There were a lot of other great fighters around who I would study and try to learn from but you realise it’s your own work that gets you to the top.

BS: So you were bitten by the bug, but when was it that you finally began winning tournaments?

BN: Like many top competitors today, Bob, I had go through that initial process of losing my first fight at just about every tournament I attended. However, I refused to be put off by this and stuck with it, until the day when at one tournament not only did I win my first fight but I also won my second. This really gave me a boost, so I just kept on attending tournaments ‘till I actually got to the final. I thought ‘Yes, I made it’, and that’s what makes it special, knowing you’ve fought your heart out to get there.

BS: At the end of the day, Brian, 50 percent of people who enter tournaments actually lose there first fight. This really can be quite discouraging to first-time attendees. In your experience have you seen students of your own become disillusioned with martial arts because they weren’t getting instant results?

BN: I admit I’ve seen loads of people, even on occasion students of my own, who’ve gone to tournaments with high expectations. Maybe they were the best fighter tat their club, and because of this were under the delusion that no-one could touch them. As usual in cases such as these, they lose their first fight and are never seen again. But with students, my own especially, I am there to back them up. Having a good coach behind you very important. In my early days of fighting I would go to tournaments by myself without anyone behind me, not knowing what happened in the fight. Now with my own students they know I have been there and done it so they have the experience behind them to bring them through.

BS: Everybody can be beaten

BN: That’s right, anybody and everybody can be beaten. No matter how good you are there will always be somebody out there who can beat you. Sometimes a defeat is good for you to experience, it brings you back down to earth and tells you to train more. Even though defeat is out there I never think of it, if it happens then it happens.

BS: I’ve always been under the impression that the Lau Gar squad owed much of its success to allegedly hard squad training sessions. Brian, what memories do you have from these sessions and were they as hard as rumours suggest?

BN: All I remember from the squad sessions were that there was sweat, sweat and more sweat. The squad sessions, without a doubt, were designed to turn boys into men. Occasionally I’d think there were things that I couldn’t do, but then Neville would scream at me and somehow I’d just do it. I’ve seen people attend squad training and you can tell they have no idea what they are letting themselves in for. Then they are never seen again – the end.

BS: How do you find Neville Wray as a coach?

BN: Neville’s a great coach. Quite often he can see things that maybe you as a fighter cannot see. He might say something that at the time I might not appreciate, yet later on realise fully what he meant by it. I remember when I last won the Europeans, I was fighting this top Italian fighter who’d apparently not been beaten in two years. Within the first thirty seconds I was three-nil down. So Neville started shouting at me from the side of the ring, I just listened to him and ended up winning by quite a margin.

BS: Quite often at large events, the Lau Gar squad were on the opposite side of the mat to the Warriors. I always wondered how you guys viewed us as a team?

BN: (laughing) OK, Bob, I’m going to tell you the truth.

BS: Can I handle it?

BN: You guys always looked so serious, I must admit, you were the only one who appeared at times to be taking it light-heartedly.

BS: Come on, Brian, since we’re on a roll, what was all this between yourself and Joe Tierney?

BN: Being fair to Joe, he’s a nice guy and a good all round fighter, but I really think that I beat him at our Clash encounter, however, he got the decision, so when the second one came along I was determined to win, and Joe just lost his cool. If Joe ever wants to comment personally on that then, Joe, feel free to do so.

BS: If we’re not careful here we might have to organise another event.

BN: (Laughing again) No problem, I’m always ready to rumble.

BS: All jokes aside, how serious a martial artist would you say Brian Nelson was?

BN: The teaching and the fighting side of the arts I’d say that I was one hundred and fifty percent serious, especially when it comes down to teaching. I like to look after all my students and, as an instructor, give them a first rate service. When it comes down to the fighting I just tell that all I want is for them to win, it’s as simple as that. I’ve got good up-and-coming fighters who you’re going to see in the winner’s slot, so watch this space.

BS: Presently, do you see a whole new generation of fighter hitting the open circuit?

BN: I see a new generation, they are coming on, they are flashing their legs but they aren’t making any real noise. The old days were the best days and I’ve not seen days like them since. Personally, I don’t think we will see days like those again, it will take someone really special to hot up the fight scene again, maybe a couple of special fighters, but right now there isn’t anyone.

BS: The good old days. These days, though, a lot of people reading this might see you solely as a sports fighter; what about traditional Lau Gar, how deeply are you into the syllabus work, let’s say?

BN: As you know, I’m a third degree black sash in Lau Gar, in addition to this I spend a lot of time teaching the Lau Gar syllabus coupled with my own personal study of it. There’s a lot to the Lau Gar system. It’s a complete system, and I’ve still got a vast amount to learn. The traditional side to kung fu has always interested me, especially the weaponry, and I teach the traditional a lot in my classes, so even though people have seen me solely as a fighter I do consider myself as a traditional martial artist.

BS: Have you ever thought of delving into other systems in order to enhance what you already know?

BN: I originally started off in Judo and have in my past felt invigorated when watching Master Sken displaying his skill, however, within the Lau Gar system there’s everything for me as an individual hence that’s where I aim to stay. Also, as some people know, I could have gone pro-boxing, but chose to carry on with the kung fu. I had a couple of amateur fights and had a good boxing coach behind me. I always dreamed of being a boxer, especially after watching ‘Marvellous’ Marvin Hagler destroy opponents. I’ve always regarded him as being the best boxer pound for pound, and have tried to base my fighting style on his, especially in continuous sparring. Yes, Marvin Hagler, for me, was the man.

BS: Besides myself, who over the years would you say has inspired you, in the martial arts?

BN: Being honest, I’d say Mark Aston.

BS: What ever happen to Mark Aston?

BN: You tell me, Bob, because that guy had everything, he was like movie star material. I remember the first time I ever saw him he was doing a Lau Gar form seemingly with no real effort, he just lifted his side-kick and held it there, and I thought ‘give me some of that’.

BS: I believe both of you were good friends?

BN: In the days when I was a young up-and-coming fighter, Mark was at the top and whenever we went away fighting with the Lau Gar squad he’d always give me some good advice and make me feel real welcome. I remember one instance when I fought him, he knew he could beat me yet never took advantage, instead he’d just put the technique there lightly and I thought to myself ‘good style’. Mark was definitely one of the best, and to this day I’ve never seen anyone with kick like his.

BS: What’s your view on losing, what I mean is how do you feel when ever you lose a bout?

BN: Whenever I lose a bout I never blame anyone else but myself. If I was good enough then I would have won, end of story. It just makes me more determined to train harder. Most people who have beaten me I have returned to beat them again and again.

BS: How do you handle fear?

BN: I’ve got no fear, if fear is present then you’ve lost straight awaFinger Strikey. So forget the fear, just go out there and do it. I can always tell someone is going to lose a fight, you see them shaking in their boots, that’s why when it comes to fear I haven’t got time to think about it.

BS: Where would you say Brian Nelson is at the moment, regarding life?

BN: Building my clubs, developing my students, working on my fighters, and doing the best that I can. Obviously, relaxing from fighting myself and putting my family first for a change. I’m not saying that I’ve stopped fighting for good, I’m just looking for a new challenge, be that what it may. In the past, I’ve done the mileage, I’ve fought across the waters, I’ve lived the hype, I’ve beaten up Joe Tierny – There’s got to be a new challenge somewhere!. So when that new challenge comes around then I will shine up my boots and dust down those cobwebs.

BS: Is there anyone out there who you always wanted to fight but never did?

BN: I’ve always wanted to see just how good some of those movie stars actually were.

BS: Who like?

BN: Van Damme.

BS: Why?

BN: Because I’ve seen many martial artists who are not perhaps as high profile as Van Damme, but to me look a lot better.

BS: Like Mark Aston, for example?

BN: Too true.

BS: What about fighters in the competitive arena?

BN: One guy that I wouldn’t have minded having a bout with but never got the chance was Kenny Walton, because for many years I’d watch and study this guy and in my mind he was a very clever fighter.

BS: Given the chance, Brian, who would you like a one-to-one with?

BN: Bruce Lee. I’d ask him if he was really that fast. I would want to know what made the man tick, his training methods, his all-round ability, how he made himself so good, and what it was like with people wanting to fight him all the time.

BS: I think he’d say yes, since he was a fast cat. Brian thanks for the interview.

BN: Thanks, Bob. May I take this time to thank all the people who have helped me in martial arts, to all students that I coach, the parents of some of my students. Also, I think it’s about time we had another MAI series.

A previous interview with Joe Tierney featured in MAI in which he commented on his clashes with Brian Nelson have caused a little bit of a to-do on what really did happen when these two met in their clashes. According to Brian Nelson, Joe’s take on things did not bother him, but he hopes by giving what he feels is the correct view, Joe will realise the truth. This is the gospel according to Brian.

Bob Sykes: Brian, are you prepared to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Brian Nelson: I sure am, Bobby boy.

BS: Where did it all start as regards your very first encounter with Joe?

BN: First of all let’s get a few things straight. A lot of things Joe stated were completely false. What made me laugh is when he claims I want publicity so that’s why I mentioned his name. In all my fighting career I have never ever asked anyone to publish me in a magazine. Furthermore (if this was the case), I would have mentioned real fighters names like The Megatron or Sean Viera, or Billy Brice, not someone who I used to see sticking his chest out, strutting his stuff thinking “I am the man”.

Butterfly KnivesBS: Those are pretty hard words, Brian.

BN: Well you said you wanted the gospel.

BS: Talk to us about your encounters with Joe…

BN: To me a good fighter, especially lightweights, is someone who can rip it up in any division. Give Joe credit, he was a good lightweight fighter, but with myself I was used to fighting people a lot heavier., so when coming to fight someone your own weight I could always feel confident about wining. I had this same feeling the first time I encountered Joe. Joe made comments that I was watching him all day at the FSK tournament; he was that small I did not even know he was there until our sections started and I heard this guy giving it some mouth with the refs.

BS: So who actually won your first encounter?

BN: Joe did win our first encounter. Why?. Well, with the refs knowing him and that being my first FSK… those reading this should know what I mean, if you are a fighter let’s get the home boy through!. Even though I think at the time we were actually drawing the fight when ‘bang’ he punched me straight in the throat which needed the first aid. The refs decided to award Joe the fight, saying I was unable to continue and that was it.

BS: So what you’re saying is that the refs won him the fight?

BN: Yes, your honour.

BS: Tell the jury and the readers about your second meeting …

BN: There is not much to tell, it was another FSK and I saw Joe there, he actually spoke to me, giving me excuses why he was late. Anyway, it ended up I had to fight him again, so I thought to myself, stuff he’s going down if he starts any crap with me. Winning the bout by one point I knew what I was doing, playing with a baby who was trying to knock me out.

BS: Did that make you feel good, knowing you had got your revenge?

BN: To me it was just another fight.

BS: Your next encounters were at Clash of the Titans events, what do you recall of them?

BN: Great tournaments that we need more of. What more is there to say about tournaments of such a high calibre, which are not for the faint-hearted. You have to be a special type of fighter to enter these types of tournaments, you have to fight with true grit and determination. The spotlight is on you and you have to perform. All I can remember, without running to watch the video, is that we sailed through our first team fight and we had the Warriors next. Joe and I were first up on the mat. I consider myself to be an honest person but if think Joe I would say so, but I don’t think he did because so many people who I did not know told me I clearly won. So I would like the jury out there to watch the video and judge for themselves.

Just to put the record straight now (I do hope Joe reads this), in his interview Joe claims that after the fight he grabbed my arm gesturing to go outside. I personally don’t recall this. A lot of people know me and know I would have obliged him and would have been only the one coming back in. Please forgive me your honour for that outburst.Sword at the ready

BS: Brian, you certainly don’t pull any punches.

BN: You wanted the truth. The last clash we had, to me, was funny because Joe was just so seriously funny. Anyone knowing the Lau team should know we always have a good laugh and joke before or even during a tournament, isn’t that right, David Baptiste?. Joe, his face was like a little bull ready to let lose in a china shop. I was standing at the other end of the mat facing him but laughing to myself. Soon as I heard that command “Fight!” I knew exactly what I was going to do – I just boxed, jabbed and back-fisted him. I went down on the floor, he had me in a head lock telling me to calm down. Then I knew he feared me so I just carried on being cool and looking good and that’s when he flipped. They awarded me the fight, he flipped again. He sat at the other end of the mat and I don’t think He stopped staring at me until all the bout were done.

BS: Do you think that you retired Joe?

BN: Yes, he was well past his sell-by date. Only joking, don’t tell. Joe or else he’ll be writing a ten-page essay. But we still talk. Joe’s even refereed some of my fights and, yes, we do talk about those bouts. But how much respect can you give a man who does not speak true from the heart?. Thanks, Bob, for letting me speak out.

BS: Thank you for your co-operation, by giving us your side of the story, Brian. However, the decision must rest with the jury, who in this instance are the MAI readership. You decide: Is Brian Nelson guilty or not guilty?