johnny,
I stated, “I worked as a bouncer in the largest bar in my county”. This bar held about 800 people comfortably. Many times the bar would go over that limit, which only meant more problems for obvious reasons.
It was like a cow town in there on Friday and Saturday night. Every single weekend I was involved in at least one altercation. And witnessed several more outside of the place. I would always show up for work with my cup on. I also learned that it was wise to carry a mouth piece in my pocket. I chipped several teeth and had two knocked completly out. I also suffered numerous cuts from broken bottles. And had assorted scrapes and stitches.
I am sure some of you may find it hard to believe, but it seemed that fighting was the sport of the day back at that bar. why did I do it? I was Working my way through college and the pay was great. Also, I was young and foolish and thought I could do anything. As I progressed I learned the best ways to stay in one piece and get the job done.
I found that my best weapon was not strength, speed or even skill. My greatest weapon was my ability to communicate. I could have been in triple the confrontations had it not been for my ability to talk people down from the point of physical action. However, when it was time to fight, I did not waste anytime. Those of you who stated that the element of surprise is important were correct in my view. In many cases while I had to play the peace maker, I was prepared for the other person to attack, using the element of surprise. Which, would take away their surprise!
With this stated, it was rare that a good little man ever beat even a fair big man. In fact, I found that traditional martial arts (this was pre Gracie days) were sometimes a detriment as the person was perhaps over confident from all the sparring (pretend fighting) that he did.
I found that weight started to make a difference when one guy out weighed his opponent by as little as 20-25 pounds. Naturally the stronger the smaller man was the more it made up for the weight differential. However, in most cases the greater the weight disparity the faster the fight would end. With the smaller guy losing more quickly.
There were exceptions to this rule, but there are always exceptions to every rule. We only become misguided when we look at these exceptions and begin to think that they are in fact the rule, instead of the exception. Yes, a strong well trained boxer/wrestler who weighed in at 170lbs. absolutely thumped a local tough guy who weighed in at 250lbs. one evening. However, this stands out in my memory as one of only a few exceptions to the rule.
To get a good idea of the place I worked at watch the movie “Road House”. While the Karate in that movie is pure fantasy, you get a good idea of what a rough and tumble place looks like.
If you worked at the biggest bar in the “country” you have me beat. I would love to hear some of your stories!
