and the legend of 52 continues.

They will always be defeated by someone who knows 53. Always.

I'ma keep it all the way real with you. 52 does exist but, unless you find the first cat that did it which you probably never will it has become the ultimate template to make street fighting a martial art based completely on the street fighter.

I fought on the streets for a minute and I remeber many cats comin outta lock up and fighting diferently and sayin they picked up 52 pickup or 52 blocks in Graterford or Muncy but it was never the same thing.

It's kinda like the badest cat in their just showed you what he knew almost like some kinda jailhouse fighters pass me down or something. But the fact of them matter is some of them could bang and some where garbage.

So you wouldn't mind making a video of you training and/or sparring?

I second this request.Please do.

I'ma keep it all the way real with you. 52 does exist but, unless you find the first cat that did it which you probably never will it has become the ultimate template to make street fighting a martial art based completely on the street fighter.

I fought on the streets for a minute and I remeber many cats comin outta lock up and fighting diferently and sayin they picked up 52 pickup or 52 blocks in Graterford or Muncy but it was never the same thing.

It's kinda like the badest cat in their just showed you what he knew almost like some kinda jailhouse fighters pass me down or something. But the fact of them matter is some of them could bang and some where garbage.

And narenotta one thoughta recordin' dis information fo' historical documentationalization.

You guys do realize that there's now 52 Blocks footage all over YouTube, right?

You guys do realize that there's now 52 Blocks footage all over YouTube, right?

Is there any chance of a link to a playlist so I don't have to spend hours searching and watching crap .

http://www.youtube.com/user/FarisiDaniel is the best playlist.

Daniel Marks used to post in this thread as BrotherD, has now produced at least one documentary on the 52 Blocks and runs his own website and forum at http://www.fwape.com/ .

http://www.youtube.com/user/FarisiDaniel is the best playlist.

Daniel Marks used to post in this thread as BrotherD, has now produced at least one documentary on the 52 Blocks and runs his own website and forum at http://www.fwape.com/ .

Excellent , and thank you . I was about to post what I found as well

The user 52blocksinfo has over 30 videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/52blocksinfo


I have not gone through them yet but it is a place to start viewing I guess .

52Blocksinfo is Lyte Burley. His videos started coming out about the same time as Daniel's. When I asked D. about Burley, he said that he didn't know him but that his style looked more like old-school Jailhouse Rock than 52 Blocks. I also showed my brother-in-law (ex-Chicago gangster) some of both D's and Burley's clips, and he said that he recognized both styles, it's just that D, Big K and the others are huge men and Burley is a smaller guy, so they use different tactics.

Also, as was pointed out numerous times in this thread, both 52 Blocks and JHR are very individualistic, so different fighters tend to develop their own personal styles and favorite moves, etc.

I'd actually suggest starting with Daniel's playlist and then watching Burley's, to get a better sense of the spread.

I was a correctional officer in the Illinois DoC for 5 years and we had a martial art we used against the 52 block and JHR practitioners. Mainly it consisted of 9 or 10 of us jumping on 1 guy and handcuffing them. The advanced techniques were pretty similar but with a lieutanant pepper spraying them first.

I was a correctional officer in the Illinois DoC for 5 years and we had a martial art we used against the 52 block and JHR practitioners. Mainly it consisted of 9 or 10 of us jumping on 1 guy and handcuffing them. The advanced techniques were pretty similar but with a lieutanant pepper spraying them first.

It has been my experience that those techniques are the wisest and most effective methods with dealing with anyone who wants to seriously put up a fight , but is someone who you can't beat to bloody pulp with a stick or shoot without an ass load of paper work or legal trouble .

Is there any actual documentation of the martial art "knocking and kicking" having ever existed?It's been written that it's the original form of JHR and 52 Blocks but so far it seems like there is no mention of it outside of the internet.

There's the following anecdote on the EJMAS site, quoting a book written in 1922. The anecdote itself dates from somewhere between 1868 and 1876:
http://ejmas.com/jalt/jaltart_long_1203.html

"Knocking and Kicking" as a fighting style has been cited in books and academic theses dating back to 1980. According to Daniel Marks, who has probably done at least as much research as anyone on this subject, it may still be practiced in the Carolinas, especially the Sea Islands and most especially Gullah Island (see references to "Geechie fighting" etc. earlier in this thread). If so, it's evidently either very secretive or extremely rare. All that I know about it otherwise is that it may be connected to private African-American men's associations.

On the Net it often seems to be confused or conflated with "cutting", which is supposed to have been a fusion of African and European forms of bare-knuckle boxing, also dating back to the days of slavery. Cutting is and/or was especially associated with Tom Molineaux - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Molineaux

It's interesting that shin kicking was mentioned in the article. Shin kicking is a well known British sport that has been around since the 17th century

http://www.zooweekly.com.au/members/viewPost.php?pid=0&aid=5408

Also at some point in the story Mangio mentions "butting" some one in the belly. In the 19th century butting meant to head butt somebody (unless the term has another meaning in gullah slang).

Now I'm probablly reading into things to much but maybe it might have something to do with Testa. http://stickgrappler.tripod.com/52/testa1.html The Ethopians practised slavery at this time so it's very likelly that Testa could have made it's way into sub-saharan Africa through the African slave trade.

So it might be a hybrid martial art combining British and African fighting styles.

I'm willing to go the shortest distance with theories. The essential foundation is boxing, add showboating, and finally karate enters the picture. Shake well and now you have a "style."