WATCH: 2015 Area Coast Sports activities Corridor of Fame Inductee Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson is Kickboxing Icon

received 11 world titles, total file of 72-5-2

ABOVE VIDEO: Don “The Dragon” Wilson is among the most extremely revered members ever of the kickboxing group. Wilson received 11 world titles with a wide range of kickboxing sanctioning teams with an total file of 72-5-2.

DON ‘THE DRAGON’ WILSON – 2015 INDUCTEE

• Full-Contact World Champion
• Kickboxing Corridor of Fame
• Received 11 World Titles

DAD TOOK JOB AT SPACE CENTER

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – When you spent any time at Cocoa Seaside’s Brassy’s Nightclub within the Nineteen Eighties, you absolutely keep in mind the nights the dance ground was transformed to a kickboxing ring and the bouncers didn’t cease the combating.

And absolutely, you keep in mind Don “The Dragon” Wilson.  He fought there 11 occasions in a seven-year span.

Although he was born in Illinois, like many different Brevardians, Wilson turned a neighborhood when his dad took an engineering job at Kennedy Area Middle.

After highschool in Boca Raton, he attended the Coast Guard Academy, the place he started finding out karate.  He returned to Brevard in 1973 and earned an A.A. in electrical engineering at Brevard Group School.

He initially deliberate to proceed his schooling on the Florida Institute of Know-how, however as usually occurs, the plans modified.

Wilson determined to observe a dream and – whereas being educated by his brother in kung fu – started pursuit of a combating profession.

All of his first 39 fights within the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties passed off in Florida – most within the central a part of the state.  In that span, he amassed a file of 32-3-1.

He received state, U.S. and world titles within the full-contact middleweight division.  He additionally received the full-contact light-heavyweight world title.

All in all, in line with his biography, Wilson received 11 world titles with a wide range of kickboxing sanctioning teams with an total file of 72-5-2.

In one in all his extra publicized bouts, Wilson fought skilled Dick Kimber for the cruiserweight world title in Might of 1999.

In response to stories on the time, “On the finish of the third spherical, Wilson got here alive and exploded with a flurry that finally knocked Kimber to the ground immobile.”

He was named to the Phrase Kickboxing League Corridor of Fame in 2010.

Since retiring from the ring, Wilson has labored as a commentator in Final Preventing Championship matches.  Wilson was rumored to be contemplating a return to the ring within the UFC, however that by no means materialized.

ACCOMPLISHED ACTOR

Wilson made headlines after his combating profession as effectively.  Experiences stated that whereas attending a martial arts match in Reno, NV, he witnessed a purse-snatching.

Wilson reportedly chased down a thief who had taken an aged lady’s bag.  He held the perpetrator in submission till the police arrived.

The Dragon has additionally had roles – each performing and producing – in over 50 movies, documentaries, movies, and tv exhibits for the reason that Nineteen Eighties – together with the cult basic – Bloodfist.

In that movie, Wilson performed a dojo sensei in California who travels to the Philippines to avenge his skilled kickboxer brother, who was murdered after a battle.

Don “The Dragon” Wilson was actually the “actual deal” and probably the most extremely revered members of the kickboxing group in his heyday.

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FOR INFORMATION ABOUT the SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME, name 321-615-8111 or e-mail [email protected]

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