- Howard Jackson
:"This article is about a fighter. There is also a
Howard W. Jackson , former mayor of Baltimore."Infobox actor
name = Howard Jackson
caption =
birthdate =June 27 ,1951
birthplace =Detroit, Michigan
deathdate =March 7 ,2006
deathplace =Duarte, California Howard E. Jackson (
June 27 ,1951 -March 7 ,2006 ) was a noted American kickboxer, pointKarate fighter, and professional boxer. He was born in 1951 inDetroit ,Michigan , the oldest of four children; two brothers died violent deaths, and his parents died early as well, leaving only Howard and his sister Corliss. He began studyingKung Fu in 1967, switching toTang Soo Do soon after, and earning his black belt in 1970 fromHwang Kee . According toPaul Maslak in the November, 1984 issue of "Official Karate Magazine", Jackson originally received his black belt inTang Soo Do fromHarold Williams . However, he later retested underChuck Norris .He began his point fighting career while serving in the
U.S. Marine Corps . His speed earned him the nickname "California Flash". In 1973 he won every major tournament on the karate circuit making him the sport's biggest money-winner on record at that time, as well as being the first Africian-American fighter to be ranked number one in the United States.He frequently trained with such individuals asChuck Norris , Bob Wall, andPat Johnson . Later, Joe Lewis was a great influence on his fighting style.Following a 1974 knee injury that sidelined him for two years, he returned in 1976, now as a full-contact fighter. In 1980 he won the WKA full-contact welterweight title, and would later become the sixth-ranked WBA boxer in his class.
In kickboxing, Jackson defeated among others, Ricci Wynn, Miguel Sanders, Sam Montgomery, Ray McCallum,Jerry Galarza, Tabata, and Toshio Arima to become the 1980 number one world contender in both the WKA and the PKA. In March, 1980 on NBC-TV, Jackson defeated Japan's Yoshimitsu Tamashiro to win the WKA World Welterweight Championship. In 1981, Jackson went to Tokyo, Japan and knocked out Masayo Chiba to win the WKBA World Muay Thai Championship. In a non-title bout, Jackson decisioned Joe Marciano who was 12-1.
On April 21, 1984, Jackson lost his WKA World Welterweight Title to
Andre Brilleman by 12 round decision. Following his defeat, Jackson retired from competition with a 23-2-1 (12 knockouts) record, and worked as a bodyguard and personal trainer for Chuck Norris and as a bodyguard forThe Temptations , as well as doing seminars. He has appeared in a number of films and TV shows (often courtesy of Chuck Norris), both as an actor and as a fight coordinator and stuntman.Howard Jackson had three children: Howard Jr., a
detective with theLAPD ; Jeremy, a minor-leaguehockey player inCanada (Western Hockey League) and hip-hop artist; and Amber Nicole, a junior high school student.He was diagnosed with
leukemia in February 2002, and diedMarch 7 ,2006 at 11:36AM at theCity of Hope hospital in Duarte,California .External links
* [http://www.howardjackson.net Howard Jackson's web site]
*imdb name|id=0413595|name=Howard Jackson
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