Southend-on-Sea, England: Kung Fu master Tony Anthony and Avanti Ministries

[DuckofDeath]

Just wanted to bring this most interesting thread back up with a comment. The fakery being perpetrated here is particularly insidious in that fakes who write autobiographies are usually practicing martial artists and have some level of skill that is simply blown out of proportion and inserted into fantasy scenarios. Anthony, however, since he is now a born again Christian, can put martial arts behind him as being a painful reminder of his sinful, pre-born again life. Everyone can understand why he doesn't want to talk about his former art and why he no longer practices it. Pretty slick--getting a perverse form of recognition for being a martial arts badass when he may have never actually been a practioner of the art at all! By their bios, the people in his organization appear to be sincere evangelical Christians who don't have a clue that Anthony's life story may be largely fabrication.

There's good scandal material here, Jadonblade--Christian outreach to kids by a pathological liar. I hope you stay on this guy and get him.

[Jadonblade]

You should of seen some of the kids who turned up, they were really pissed off that this guy talked about his kung fu for like 30 seconds and converting to christianity the rest of the hour. When they thought it was gonna be more about his kung fu. Ill quote some parts of the book in another post tommorow. Some are very funny.

Tiger palm to the head lolz.

[Goldenmane]

Spent a little time looking into this web-wise, and all I can find regarding this guy and his claims of the elusive "IKFF" are this thread, one other archived at CircvsMaximvs and a whole bunch of articles echoing his claims on christian group sites.

In actual fact I haven't found one shred of evidence for the existence of "IKFF" outside his claims, and the IKF (International Kung Fu Federation) is a body that's attempting to govern competition and get it into the Olympics. They don't train bodyguards, and haven't been around that long anyway, as far as I remember.

Christ, I just scanned this: http://www.heinvites.org/fullStory.php3/0476.html

Trainer to military. Beautiful blind Swedish girlfriend who died young. "Kung Fu Black Belt" at 7. And so forth. The guy ticks all the bullshit boxes.

Jadonblade: To the Bulliemobile!

[Rubberduck]

Jadonblade. I wonder if this guy has some international recognition, since I remember article about kung-fu-badass-who-has-killed-people-but-now-is-christian in local christian sect newspaper. I´ll check if anything turns out here.

Edit: Pingo, same guy. Local smaller sects seem to have real hardon for him, since he even got prison tours too.

[Goldenmane]

One of the links I found was a Canadian one, so this is definitely international.

Sorry, bedtime, so I can't be arsed to find the link again right now. Tomorrow.

[boondock lee]

I haven't really found any thing that contradicts the guy's story besides his claim that he was associated with the IFK. One thing that I can't shake is that I can't find any mention of what style of kung fu that he learned. It just says that he learned kung fu . I haven't read the book, but I will check it out sometime this week. ( been busy with school)

I'll still keep looking but this requires a through investigation in order to find any substantial evidence of bullshido.

[Jadonblade]

Didnt get a chance to post more things today as I was watching south africa win the rugby :D. But he studied hun gar, or atleast tiger style. Things get really ridiculous when he takes his test to prove his a master.

Walks along a razor with a wild dog barking at him (unexpectedly), moves a massive obstacle, lifts a cauldron with melten iron in it (burning dragons into his wrists supposedly) and has to walk along and place it at his masters feet. Im so sure this is in a film.

[forgetit]

This is were you should go on up to him and call bullshido to his face!

Actually I am just messing I have not read the entire post.

[Ronin.74]

Didnt get a chance to post more things today as I was watching south africa win the rugby :D. But he studied hun gar, or atleast tiger style. Things get really ridiculous when he takes his test to prove his a master.

Walks along a razor with a wild dog barking at him (unexpectedly), moves a massive obstacle, lifts a cauldron with melten iron in it (burning dragons into his wrists supposedly) and has to walk along and place it at his masters feet. Im so sure this is in a film.

I believe that this was probably taken from Kung Fu the TV series. There was a seen where Cain lifted a searing hot cauldron with his forearms and moved it to another platform burning the outlines of a dragon into one arm and a tiger into the other. If this was true he should still have the burn marks on his wrists. It is essentially branding the skin, I worked out sometimes with an Aiki-jiujitsu guy who did branding as part of his fraternity in college. 20 years later the burn mark was still clearly visible, it should be the same with this nitwit. If he lifted the cauldron like he claims the proof should still be on his wrists.

[slideyfoot]

He pops up in plenty of newspaper articles (18 hits on the work search engine). A few quotes from searching "tony anthony" AND kung fu:

Triple world Kung Fu Champion Tony Anthony gave a special talk at The Millennium Hall, Dawlish Community College, Elm Grove Road.

Tony was discussing his new book 'Taming The Tiger' an astounding story of champion fighter turned mercenary turned inmate, and his story has more thrills, spills and twists than a Hollywood blockbuster.

At four-years-old, Tony was sent to China to become a Kung Fu disciple, where he spent eight hours a day following a cruel and brutal training regime overseen by the Grand Master, his grandfather.

Quickly developing into a Kung Fu expert, Tony became an elite bodyguard, protecting some of the world's most powerful people, while also winning the World Kung Fu championships in 1987,88, 89.

But the sudden death of his fiancée changed Tony's sense of direction and discipline, and he began to use his skills for illegal means, becoming embroiled in a world of violence, destruction and death. [...]

[...] Tony Anthony will never forget May 3, 1990.

Six months into his three-year jail term, an angry Anthony lay in wait like a predator for a Christian missionary, Michael Wright, to visit him in an overcrowded Nicosia prison he likens to a dungeon. [...]

``The missionaries were not concerned about what I had done but how I was coping. That's very strange because normally the two things people want to know is what have you done and how many years are you serving. He never asked. He just wanted to be my friend.''

About 11am Wright gave him a simple message on Jesus Christ.

``I told him he was an idiot. I said why are you telling me about this guy who died some thousands of years ago? But he said becoming a Christian wasn't about being religious or going to church or trying to be good but having a relationship with God,'' says Anthony, who didn't hit Wright that day.

Back in his cell an inmate attacked him, burning his wrist with a cigarette, he says, rolling the skivvy sleeve up his right arm to reveal a scar the size of a 5c piece.

``I smashed his head into the window so hard that I nearly took his nose off.

``When I looked through the bars in my cell window I saw the shape of the cross that had never occurred to me before.''

Kneeling, he said a simple prayer and cried his heart out, begging God to forgive his indiscretions.

``For the first time, I had this guilt and conviction. I woke up the next day and felt more free behind those prison bars than any other people in the world,'' says Anthony.

He says it was considered heresy to be a born-again Christian in a Greek Orthodox prison. He lost his remission and had to serve his full three-year prison sentence.

Nine inmates, he says, followed him and embraced Christianity. Among them was a Hindu friend from Sri Lanka, three Jordanian Muslims and five atheists.

``They were the most scumbag criminals you'd come across but they were big enough to pray to Jesus,'' says Anthony, who found kung fu Buddhism taught him to strike back but Christianity encouraged him to offer the other cheek.

``I can't imagine Jesus doing kung fu. It's not that people shouldn't do it but it's a personal decision.

``The best thing an alcoholic can do is stay away from the booze and that's what I did and took one day at a time.''

Severing ties with his parents sits uncomfortably with Tony Anthony but it's something he has to accept in his new chosen path.

``If I went around the world and said marshmallows changed my life then everyone would be interested and say how wonderful. The minute I mention Jesus changed my life then I find there's a spiritual problem involved here,'' says Anthony, who hasn't seen his parents since last talking to them on the phone when he married his wife, Sarah, 11 years ago.

They were shocked to see how reformed he was but also had prejudices about his newfound life.

``I respect every religion in the world and I'm not here to tear down anyone's belief. I believe that if you believe in something then stand up for it - I'd be willing to die for it if I had to,'' says the Englishman, who spoke at the Highway 61 clubrooms, Napier Boys' High School and the Mangaroa Prison, in Hawke's Bay, during his two-day visit here as part of a seven-week crusade to New Zealand.

Four-year-old Tony, born in England, was sent to China by his Italian father and Chinese mother, to be raised by his grandfather, the Grand Master Cheung Ling Soo.

He was beaten daily by his grandfather, raised as a Buddhist and taught kung fu. His grandfather addressed him by tapping him on the head with a bamboo cane and Anthony was forced to follow a brutal training regime, practising Tai Chi for up to eight hours a day.

"I remember I was six years old and I took a knife to kill him. He had beaten me really badly and I was going to kill him. For a six-year-old to think that, you can imagine how damaged I was at that time.

"I never got anywhere near to killing him, but that's how he made me think."
Anthony endured the beatings and became a world kung fu champion in Tai Chi, three times over.

He entered his first competition when he was 10 and progressed through the ranks of the International Kung Fu Federation (IKFF).

Despite Anthony's success, kung fu led to a superficial life. He was motivated by money, travel and women and taught others how to fight in hand-to-hand combat. The IKFF paid him to become a body guard, protecting rich clients around the world. He was only 18.

His most high-profile client was Amin Fahed, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the UK, Cyprus and Italy. There were attempts to kill the ambassador and the use of guns was nothing out of the ordinary.

He says he shot a man during a gunfight in the Middle East but he was never caught. Jail and heartache, however, were not far away.

In London, in the summer of 1987, he met a girl. She was blind, a law student from Sweden and the couple were soon engaged. But a car accident killed his fiancee, sending Anthony into a rage. He bashed men while collecting debts for his boss, and took money for himself. [...]

The earliest article that pops up is this one, from 2004:

[...] Tony Anthony, a former world kung fu title-holder turned author, made an appearance at Kingsbrook School in Deanshanger for the family festival of fun to tell visitors about his amazing life. [...]