This thread is intended as an overview of the infamous showdown between Robin and Kato – and more importantly, their alter egos Burt Ward and Bruce Lee – as well as an investigation into the conflicting accounts of Ward's martial arts training, or lack thereof.
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A certain degree of controversy has arisen over the years surrounding Ward's claims to hold a black belt in martial arts. Depending on which interview you read, he claims to hold the rank in either karate or taekwondo. He or his interviewers seem to cite the two separate martial arts as though they were interchangeable. But which, if any, did he train in?
When he auditioned for the part of Robin, Ward demonstrated his karate skills by chopping a wooden board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ukf9cYBzdg
According to the November 1968 issue of Black Belt, Ward had no formal martial arts training at this time and performed the demonstration during his screen test by imitating a trick a karate enthusiast had shown him. The false claim that he held a black belt was soon spread by publicists, and his martial arts background was frequently questioned during the promotion of the show.
Concerned about this, Ward then undertook an intensive six month training regimen under the direct tutelage of Young Ik Sou, director of the International Taekwondo Association. The November 1968 issue of Black Belt documents the details of this regimen. It also includes numerous photographs of Ward training with Young Ik Sou.
(https://s14.postimg.cc/8kgon86lt/ward_training.png)
This six month period coincided with the production of the first season of the TV show, so that by time they shot the 1966 feature film (which went into production immediately after season 1), Ward had completed his training. The November 1968 issue of Black Belt says that Ward studied karate, not taekwondo. The article concludes with the following:
Quote"He had been through all of this grind, had been taught all that the sensei had to offer in his course and theoretically he had emerged from the wars as a brown belt, but the gnawing truth ate away at his insides. True, he was taught the martial art of karate, but in those six gruelling months, how much had he really learned? That was the question."
'Theoretically' being the operative word. Admittedly I've never trained in taekwondo or karate, but I did train in jiu-jitsu for several years when I was a teenager. And progression in jiu-jitsu required us to train for a certain number of months in between each grade test. My best friend back then was a 1st dan black belt in karate, and I remember him too having to train for a set period before being eligible to undertake his next test. It takes years to master any martial art. You can't just do it in a few months. And I'm always suspicious when I hear about movie or TV actors being granted a high rank after just a few weeks or months of training. I see this as hollow PR hype rather than a genuine evaluation of their skill level. Now it may be the case that there's a different system in taekwondo that allows students to progress more quickly. But let's just say I'm a little sceptical that Ward is really a brown belt.
Nevertheless, he does seem to have received some real (albeit limited) martial arts training under the tutelage of a respected instructor. In October 2015 Ward was even inducted into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame:
(https://scontent.flhr3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/12249781_1036549323064546_7970653529471052518_n.jpg?oh=3c60245df7bf8e8a269d3447b02ff2b9&oe=5B20D5D7)
So that brings us to the infamous Robin vs. Kato fight. There are numerous accounts of tensions behind the scenes in the run-up to filming this sequence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJKgILeaSVM
It's no secret that Kato was originally meant to lose to Robin. Bruce Lee refused to go along with this, so they instead ended the fight with a draw. Numerous sources, including Adam West, state that Lee was trying to psyche out Ward on set by glaring at him and being uncommunicative. These same sources state that Ward was sweating bullets and thought Lee was really going to beat him up. A Newsweek article quoted Green Hornet star Van Williams commenting on the matter:
Quote"Burt Ward was absolutely petrified when he was going to work with him, and he didn't want to work with him. And Bruce got the script, and in the original script he lost to Robin. Well, that didn't go over too good with Bruce. He walked off the show. He said, 'I'm not going to do that.' He said, 'There's no way that anyone would believe I go in there and fight Robin and lose.'"
http://www.newsweek.com/bruce-lee-king-fu-martial-arts-390811
The October 1979 issue of Fighting Stars quotes Lee himself as confirming the incident:
Quote"'I had a hard time keeping a straight face,' he said. 'I started to crowd Burt and he began to flap his elbows and jump around me. I was really keeping him scared and I hear someone in the back whisper, 'The black panther and the yellow chicken.' At that point, I burst out laughing. I just couldn't keep a straight face anymore.'"
http://tothebatpoles.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/batscholar-on-episodes-85-and-86.html
Ward himself has denied this, claiming that he and Lee were good friends who used to train together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS9Ua164YAA
If this did indeed happen, it would seem to be a joke Lee was playing on Ward to freak him out. Others have speculated that Lee was annoyed at Ward for claiming to be a brown or black belt in a martial art he'd only studied for six months and wanted to teach him a lesson. Ward claims none of this is true. I've also heard that Ward's stunt double Victor Paul performed most of the fight scene anyway, which would seem to contradict Bruce Lee's account of the incident. I'm sure everyone's already seen it, but here's the finished fight scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUtVMkyTWcQ
So what does everyone think about this? Bruce Lee did cultivate friendships with many people in Hollywood, so it's possible Ward was one of them. Was the whole thing a prank Lee played on Ward? Is it all a myth to hype one actor's reputation at the expense of the other? Is Burt Ward really a brown of black belt, or did he exaggerate the extent of his training?