Tuesday, June 11, 2013

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 43 years ago Atlanta's Joe Corley and his partner Chris McLoughlin conceived and executed a rare plan for those days—a karate tournament that would attract competitors from various regions of the country and treat them without bias. Previously, regional bias was rampant in martial arts and competitors we almost always disappointed when they ventured outside their own regions.

As Southeast Black Belt Champion, Corley himself was subjected to such treatment regularly, and his simple desire was to change the status quo. With the support of Chuck Norris and his team of world-class Black Belts like Karate Kid's Pat Johnson, the Battle of Atlanta quickly became a fighter's showcase.

Each year the fighters from every region would come to "the Battle", as it came to be known, to test them against and become one of the Best of the Best.

At Battle of Atlanta VI in 1975, Corley, then the #6 world contender in the PKA's Middleweight Full Contact Karate division, challenged Middleweight Champion Bill Wallace in the PKA's first title defense. 12,000 fans in Atlanta's Omni saw a dramatic fight with Wallace and Corley, the first two fighters facing 9 rounds. Previous fights were just 3 rounds. Wallace won the 9-round battle, setting the stage further for the PKA and what would be his iconic moniker, "Superfoot". In fact, as the dots connected, CBS would 2 years later hire Corley to be expert analyst for their live quarterly coverage of Superfoot's title defenses.

That work would lead to Corley's continued role as producer and analyst for some 250 ESPN, NBC, SHOWTIME and internationally syndicated events-a role that continues to today.

Along the way, Master Instructor Joe Corley has been inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame, The Masters Hall of Fame and the International Tae Kwon Do Hall of Fame. He has just received as well the Golden Shuto Award as International Martial Arts Ambassador for American Martial Arts and PKA Kickboxing. But the thing that drives Corley these 43 years later is the same as Day One.

"The world has come to know that the martial arts as available as any other sport in terms of 'name' ", he said, "but the athletes that we have in mind have not yet got their just rewards. We will continue to promote the great Black Belts that come from the 20,000 studios in North America and we continue to search for the right corporate and individual partners to join us in that quest."

"No one in any sport has been as tenacious as Joe Corley", observed Grand Master Andrew Linick, the U.S. Ambassador of Karate™ and publisher of the new Official Karate magazine™. "He was voted Man of the Decade in 1970 and to all who have watched, he has kept that passion alive for more than 4 decades. For that, we are all happy", he smiled.

"We invite all martial arts fans to join us here in Atlanta on June 14-15 to see the best of every generation of American martial artists", Corley said. "We'll see today's superstars, the legends of yesteryear and the incredible round of talent to take us for the next 4 decades."

Special seminars by Bill "Superfoot" Wallace and special Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Awards commemorating the life of the recently departed Joe Lewis highlight the 2 days of world-class competition in "Hotlanta".

See TheBattleofAtlanta.com for all the details. Email PKAJoeCorley@gmail.com for interviews and more information.