Don "The Dragon" Wilson

Don "The Dragon" Wilson (born September 10, 1954) is an American champion kickboxer and actor. He is most famous for his acting roles in action/adventure films, including eight titles in Roger Corman's Bloodfist series. His first film was Corman's Killer Instinct.

Biography

Early life

Wilson was born in Illinois, and grew up on Florida's Space Coast. He had a long and successful career in the ring. He was perhaps the best known and most successful kickboxer of his era.

He is a Sifu in Pai Lum Tao Kung fu (Source: Inside Kungfu, September 2004).^[1] also known as White Dragon Kung Fu which is how he obained his nickname. Wilson incorporated this and claimed his style as White Dragon Kickboxing

Kickboxing career

Wilson won a total of 11 World Titles with several sanctioning bodies that included the IKF, WKA, KICK, ISKA, STAR and the PKO. He won his IKF (www.IKFKickboxing.com) FCR Cruiserweight World Title on May 15, 1999 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, when he defeated Dick Kimber. (Lynn, Massachusetts, USA PRO: 23-3/21, AM: 25-0/25 5'9" 197 ) At the end of the 3rd round Wilson came alive and exploded with a flurry that eventually knocked Kimber to the floor motionless. Referee Dan Stell counted Kimber out on the floor, a count that went into the round break. Kimber never stood during the count.

Having never been challenged for his title, Wilson voluntarily retired it to move down to the Light Heavyweight Division, where he eventually retired from fighting a few years later.

Don holds a KO win over the first ever K-1 Kickboxing Grand-Prix Champion, Branco Cikatic.

Commentating career

Wilson was also a fight commentator and interviewer in many of the early UFC events, beginning with UFC 7 in Buffalo. He stated several times that he would be willing to fight in the UFC himself if enough fans requested it, but it never happened. He went on to be a commentator for KOTC.

Film appearances

Some movies to his credit include: Futurekick, Bloodfist 1-8, Ring of Fire 1, 2 & 3, Out for Blood, Operation Cobra, Blackbelt, Cyber Tracker 1 & 2, Sci Fighters, Redemption, Capitol Conspiracy, and Batman Forever as the leader of the Neon Gang.

Personal life

Married well known film and television makeup artist Kathleen Karridene in 1996. They have three children together; Jonathan, Drayden, and Aubrianna.

Kickboxing record

According to Inside Kung-Fu Presents Kickboxing Magazine (August 1992), Don Wilson's kickboxing record was listed as 69 wins, 5 losses, 2 draws, 46 knockout wins, and 6 kick-knockouts, and 3 no-contests. On page 64, Wilson's first match with Bill Knoblok in Orlando, Florida in December 1974 is listed as a 3 round no-contest. However, on page 52 in the same issue, Wilson said about his fight with Knoblok, " But Bill won the third round by a larger margin than I had won the first. So he won the bout." Today the official result of this fight was listed as a no-contest on Wilson's official fight record because when he decided to fight for PKA, Joe Corley felt the rule of the bout was quite different from those of PKA, Corley told Wilson to omit it.

Wilson's kickboxing career spanned 4-decades; his first fight with Bill Knoblok in 1974 and his last fight, a 10th round knockout victory over Eddie Butcher on July 19, 2002 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He defeated among others, world champions James Warring, Dennis Alexio, and Maurice Smith. Wilson fought a draw with another champion, Jean-Yves Theriault. In 79 bouts, Wilson was only knocked out by Glen McMorris in 1980. Wilson's kickboxing record is listed as 72-5-2 (48 knockouts) with 3 no-contests.

Filmography

• The Last Sentinel (2007)
• Soft Target (2006)
• Sci-Fighter (2004)
• Stealing Harvard (2002)
• Redemption (2002)
• Moving Target (2000)
• The Capitol Conspiracy (1999)
• Whatever It Takes (1999)
• Inferno aka Operation Cobra (1998)
• Hollywood Safari (1997)
• Papertrail (1997)
• Night Hunter (1996)
• Virtual Combat (1996)
• Bloodfist VIII: Trained to Kill (1996)
• Cyber-Tracker 2 (1995)
• Bloodfist VII: Manhunt (1995)
• Batman Forever (1995)
• Ring of Fire 3: Lion Strike (1995)
• Bloodfist VI: Ground Zero (1995)
• Terminal Rush (1995)
• CyberTracker (1994)
• Red Sun Rising (1994)
• Bloodfist V: Human Target (1994)
• Out for Blood (1993)
• Magic Kid (1993)
• Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel (1993)
• Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (1992)
• Blackbelt (1992)
• Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight (1992)
• Ring of Fire (1991)
• Future Kick (1991)
• Bloodfist II (1990)
• Bloodfist (1989)
• Say Anything... (1989)

References

External links

• Don "The Dragon" Wilson at the Internet Movie Database
• Don "The Dragon" Wilson at Allmovie
• Don "The Dragon" Wilson Official site
• Don "the Dragon" Wilson New(2008)up-to-date official site