Emin Boztepe
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Emin Boztepe (born 1962) is a Turkish martial artist .
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[edit] Background
Born in Eskişehir, Turkey, he started learning martial arts at the age of 14 in Germany where he moved together with his family in 1966. According to Emin, his early days in Germany were not easy due to his Turkish heritage. He was a constant target for racial insults, and more often than not, verbal abuse would swiftly turn into physical abuse. Martial arts became something of a necessity. His father urged him to begin training, and at age 14 his martial arts career began.
[edit] Martial Arts
Boztepe was attracted to Wing Tzun when he saw a demonstration in Germany. This led him to seeking instruction from Keith Kernspecht, noted European WingTsun master and senior student of Grandmaster Leung Ting. Boztepe has been training in Wing Tzun for over 25 years, and considers its methods second to none. In addition to Wing Tzun, Boztepe has trained in tae kwon do, Shotokan karate, Muay Thai, Turkish freestyle wrestling, boxing, and Latosa escrima. He currently bases his self-defense solely on Wing Tzun kung fu and the Latosa Weapons System.
[edit] Training
Emin feels that this is one of the most important factors in developing effective self-defense techniques. Although Emin believes in other forms of training such as bag-training, aerobics, etc. he feels that nothing can take the place of training with a live partner that fights back. Emin emphasizes that training should become a regular routine for any serious Martial Artist. "You can have the best techniques and the best instructors, but if you don't practice regularly and realistically it will not be useful." Emin exemplifies this himself by adhering to a strict training schedule.
[edit] Controversy
In the mid 1980's, in an interview for Combat magazine, William Cheung proclaimed himself the Grandmaster of the whole Wing Chun system and heir to Yip Man, adding that the system he learned and taught was a secret style Yip Man taught only to him. He further claimed that this secret system was superior and more effective than the wing chun being taught by anyone else, and he challenged anyone who wanted to prove him wrong on a technical basis. He said that he would "fight anyone anywhere." In 1986 William Cheung was invited to Germany to have a 2-day martial arts seminar.
Emin and one of his peers attended the seminar. When Emin challenged William Cheung, pointing to an article that contained Cheung's "anyone anywhere" quote. (Cheung would later claim that challenges between seniors and a lower students were not part of the Wing Chun system. No independent confirmation of his claim has ever been publicly made.) Cheung tried to persuade Boztepe to wait until after the seminar, but Boztepe insisted on fighting immediately. The ensuing confrontation was captured on video, and on published versions of the video, it appears that Emin effortlessly evaded Cheung's initial attack, swept Cheung's feet from under him, and assumed a dominant position on the ground. However, Cheung has disputed the video version, claiming the footage was edited to distort what really happened. (Cheung claims that he had Boztepe under control the entire time. The footage shows that after Boztepe took a dominant position, he repeatedly punched Cheung in the face until the fight was broken up by onlookers.
[edit] Emin Today
In 2002 he broke with his teacher's WingTsun organization over a financial dispute and formed his own organization called Emin Boztepe Martial Arts System or EBMAS and trains military and police units in the USA as well as his students all over the world.
