Gunshi began judo in 1953, under his brother Eddie, who was one of the top judo players at his weight at that time, the fact that he (Eddie) broke a Canadian weightlifting record that was 32 years old, made him stronger than anyone at his weight class, and end up with him trying out for the USA Olympic team years later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gunshi was a natural for judo! He was strong, fast and in great shape, in his judo career, was only thrown three times in competition, and that by a counter to his powerful Seotoshe throw.

 

He later set a guiness record for judo which still stands today; he did non-stop judo throws for 13 straight hours, using 50 assistants to keep the line going freely, one throw every 20  seconds,with a 5 minute water break each hours, in all he did over 1500 throws one after the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing his weightlifting competitions along with judo took most of his free time, but it was at age 20 (1960) that he set the current world record for the one hand deadlift of 505 pounds, a lift that was never broken in the 44 years since it was set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In all, between 1954 and 1963, he set or broke 103 weight lifting records, won both the Mr Moncton and Mr. New Brunswick Bodybuilding titles, and appeared on tv and at festivals giving strong man shows.

At age 23, he moved to the USA, where he was exposed to many great martial arts, and where the weightlifting competitions came to an end being by then, everyone was doing steroids and he refused to abuse his body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He opened his first judo dojo in 1964, in Leominster, MA (his two boys are in front) and was training under George Maldonis, a national champion, who taught him the main throw he would use in competition, a cross between a morote seonage and a tai otoche, it was a brutal throw, as well, he was pushed relentlessly on  newaza of ground fighting.

Gunshi entered a few ”smokers” or illegal boxing matches around Boston, where the weight classes were often ignored, and he won some, and lost some, it was a great experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1965, while teaching a girl/ kids  judo class at the Fitchburg YMCA, a guy poked his head through the window and said: :My sensei said if you don’t close this class down, he will visit you next week!”

Gunshi was a man of few words, he looked at the guy and told him where to go in street language, and the guy left, and 5 days later, a Korean guy came into the gym and issued a challenge.

 

 

This was not uncommon in that time in the USA! Known as dojo challenges, it happened a lot, so, Gunshi was not surprised, except this guy was rather big and seemed confident, but the fight was soon on

 

 

 

Unlike today, back then, people believed in the “one punch-one death fallacy!” , because guys were returning from Okinawa and saying a new art (karate) was so deadly, if they land one blow, you will die.

Because of this if strikes were allowed, the fighters wore cut-away gloves, head gear and chest protectors, which is what they wore for this match, there was no groin shots, that’s pretty well the rules, it stopped when one guy could no longer continue.

 

 

The bout was over pretty fast, the Korean had no hands and was soon a mess of blood, Gunshi’s boxing was way to much for him to overcome.

The Korean left without a word, he had been embarrassed, and a few weeks later he returned, and Gunshi thought there would be a second fight, but, the guy apologized and asked Gunshi if he would talk to his teacher, and Gunshi agreed

 

 

Turns out his teacher, A master of a style known as Daito-ryu, worked at Borden Chemicals with Gunshi, he was a chemist there, so, they soon discussed fighting in great depth, but Gunshi thought that the guy, who smoked one cigarette after another, and weighed 100 pounds, was rather a dreamer and sissy, until the guy went on the mats with him, it was not that he could have beaten Gunshi, but he was sneaky, and he distracted him long enough to grab Gunshi’e wrist, then it was a different story, Gunshi didn’t know wrist and finger locks, and he was quickly on his knees in severe pain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This style was 1200 years old and based on fighting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its not like in the movies, Gunshi did not become his student, was not in awe or overly impressed, he knew he could beat him easily, but he wanted to learn those wrist locks to add to what he already had, so once or twice a week, he would go to the guys house to take private lessons.

 

It turns out that the Korean was teaching the green barets at Fort Devens Army base near there, so, he was soon helping him train the solders, which is where he met the ROKS who had kicks that were ahead of anything else at the time, so, he took lessons from them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between 1965 and 1973, Gunshi was on the road all the time, taking lessons and fighting, he met Kung Fu masters, karate greats, Kempo stars and every kind of system under the sun, and he always took his privates.

One day, the Korean (Chiang) became MIA in Vietnam, and the old Chinese teacher (Pok Shen) called him over to see if he would take over the Daito-ryu system he inherited, at first Gunshi refused, but eventually said he would do his best, and until Shen relocated to Formosa in 1973, they went over tons and tons of history, techniques a philosophes related to Daito Ryu, but there was a stipulation, Gunshi would have to test most of the techniques on competitions, known as a Shugyu/ Chikara  or test of strength, so the system would survive scrutiny.

 

 

While Gunshi was in the USA, a team of Chinese masters took on the Muay Thai fighters and were beaten, then team of karate guys lost to them too, until the great Korean Mas Oyama went there to beat them, and kickboxing was born, so, the full contact fighting used before then by Gunshi, lost all the padding and throws for this new sport,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here one of the posters on a kickboxing card where Gunshi fought

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gunshi returned to Canada in 1973, he introduced the very first kickboxing to Canada, and he quickly competed in the Canada games for both judo and weightlifting, and he competed in the golden gloves in 1978.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was awarded a 7th degree black belt in Shito-Ryu karate directly from Japan (FAJO) as well as a SHIHAN MENJO (teacher of teachers license)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During this time, he became a police officer, then a police instructor, and taught at two colleges, Holland College and Success College, and soon earned a doctorate in theology, becoming an ordained minister, then he became a certified clinical hypnotherapist.

 

 

In 1988, he promoted the very first MMA card in Canada, it was held in Dieppe, N.B., and in attendance was the Moncton Boxing & wrestling commission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When MMA began, he took seminars by the Gracies to see what they offered, and began to promote professional MMA (over 32 cards were co-promoted by him) , and continued to take or watched seminars by UFC stars, including Dan Severn, T.J. Grant, Jeremy Horn, and the great GSP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2010, he became the oldest person in the Guiness Book of Records to compete in a professional Combat Sport, MMA, which leaves him with 4 world records today: Oldest professional fighter, non-stop judo throws for 13 straight hours, one handed deadlift of 505 pounds and breaking untreated ice measuring 11 inches thick x 22 inches wide x  44  inches long with a punch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE* This is just a sample of Gunshi’s qualification, more photos and information will be added from time to time, such as pictures, diplomas, certificates, li