It's hard to believe Rodney King was once the runt of his neighbourhood pack, the smallest kid on the block, who was bullied at school.
A lot has changed since King (26) grew up on the uncompromising streets of Johannesburg's tough southern suburbs. He's a big man now, with a powerful physique, and a martial arts pedigree as well-developed as his abdominal six-pack.
He is the only internationally certified instructor in Muay Thai (the original art of kickboxing) recognised by the World Muay Thai Council in South Africa. He holds three second dans (black belts) in different styles of karate.
He has 10 years boxing experience and is proficient in Kali (a Filipino empty hand and weapons art), Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (a grappling art learnt from one of the famous Machado brothers), Wing Chun (an ancient Chinese martial art), Krabi Krabong (a Thai weapons system), Jeet Kune Do (a fighting method developed by the legendary Bruce Lee) - and Zulu stick-fighting.
But mostly he has an inner confidence that comes with training ordinary people to become "the best possible athletes and fighters that they can possibly be" at African Street Tough, a unique combat school he has started in Blairgowrie.
Which does beg the question: do we really need to create more fighters in a society that can lay dubious claim to being one of the most violent on earth?
King says knowing how to fight is only part of a journey to self awareness, knowing yourself, your strengths and weaknesses and overcoming the ego.
When you understand the consequences of fighting you are much less inclined to be involved in brawls: there is nothing honourable about violent confrontation. Nobody wins, not even the winner.
He should know, having spent national army service in the VIP protection unit, and then working as a "bouncer" at nights at a Sandton club for five years after the army.
King dispels any stereotypes about bouncers. He saw human nature in all its alcoholic and drug-induced "glory". His goal was "never to beat up people", but to "get through each night without incident", and get home "in one, unbloodied piece".
He earned enough money though, to travel to Thailand, to train in Muay Thai when it was unheard of for foreigners to do so, and in the United States with world-renowned Jeet Kune Do instructors, including Matt Thornton, and Dan Inosanto, Lee's training partner, who took over the reigns after Lee's untimely death in 1973.
Those experiences were the catalyst for African Street Tough, a highly personal synthesis of the concepts he learnt from masters around the globe.
His school is not a martial arts dojo in the accepted sense of the word. King says he teaches martial "science" rather than art. And he calls himself a coach and not a "sensei" (the Japanese word for a teacher, specially of the martial arts), because he coaches people, individually and in groups, to go from "zero to 100 in the shortest time" using cross training in good systems of fighting.
King's search for an ultimate reality in combat has convinced him that at best many martial arts schools rely on styles that are "incomplete". At worst, many of are "cults", he says, requiring blind obedience to the sensei, and using humiliation and degradation as teaching "methods".
In his school, there is no ritual, or "vagabond tricks" such as breaking boards with bare hands or foreheads. There is no rigid, militaristic ethos and hierarchy.
His students include doctors, lawyers, physiotherapists, even a florist, and classes are small, because he says individual attention is vital to prepare students psychologically as well as physically.
His methods of training are aimed at those "interested in the pursuit of truth in performance and in combat". He eschews set rules, forms, movements and techniques, in favour of something more fluid and intrinsic - a "circle without a circumference", preserving a "centreline" that allows a constant rhythmic flow, and the ability to "fit in" to an opponent's techniques.
It is "reality based, alive, athletic training" with deep roots in ancient China, but it is thoroughly modern in application and relevance to South Africa.
It considers the impact environment has on methods of fighting. What works in overcrowded conditions in the Far East, he says, is ill-suited to sprawling urban areas in South Africa.
His injury rate is refreshingly low. He ascribes this to large doses of "almost-real" combat, that teaches quick, calm reaction under pressure. "Knowing how to defend yourself is a personal path, a form of self-expression that is different for everyone."
He stresses physical conditioning as did Lee, whose style was based on elusiveness and speed, but who believed physical strength was vital.
Like Lee, King trains for hours each day, including weight training in the gym. He doesn't smoke and no longer drinks any alcohol. When he's in top shape, he has a resting pulse rate of an Olympic athlete.
Just one beer is enough to "poison" his system, requiring days to recover.
King's main aim is to teach his students not to attach themselves to one style, and to draw from everything around them, whether it be boxing, fencing, karate, wrestling, or township stickfighting.
* Rodney King will host seminars in August with American Chris Hautuer on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Vale Tudo (no-holds-barred fighting) and Jeet Kune Do, and in October with internationally renowned Jeet Kune Do and Vale Tudo instructor Matt Thornton.
For information, call 083-757-8592, e-mail [email protected] or check the web page at www.jeetkunedoafrica.co.za