Ian Jacklin is documentary filmmaker, concert promoter, actor, and kickboxing champion. With three films produced and one world kickboxing title shot under his black belt, he’s a warrior who persists until the fight is won or the project is done.
Grégoire Canlorbe: You ended up being ranked number two in the world by the World Kickboxing Association. Please tell us about this irresistible ascent.
Ian Jacklin: I like many young men saw a Bruce Lee movie and was hooked. Especially when on the first day of grade 9 high school I had to watch a buddy of mine get beat up while being held back. I went home that afternoon and told my mom to put me in Karate at 14 years of age and the rest is pretty much history. Ralph Chinnick was my master at Professional Self Defense Studios in London, Ontario Canada. I remember his early instruction was to learn the technique. To just keep coming to every class and learn the technique. Which I did and did well. By the time I was a yellow belt I was kicking like black belts. By the time I was a green belt I was beating black belts in sparring. And the great thing about Kenpo karate under the Ed Parker system was we actually kickboxed. No point sparring. Real fighting and I heard then that Bruce Lee said you learn to fight by fighting. So it was a natural progression to go to other dojos and spar their best guys which I did in Kitchener Ontario at Sifu Ron Day’s Kung Fu Academy where future PKA lightweight champion of the world, Leo Loucks. He became my idol and I learned from him on his rise to the top when he beat Cliff Thompson. Our trainer Jimmy Fields was the best in proactive, positive mental instruction while in the deepest and darkest moments of battles in that square circle. I had other trainers that would try to scare you into being better that night but that never worked for me. Militant instruction may work for some but it didn’t work for me. I needed love and light and Jimmy gave me that. I truly believe that if he and Ron Day were to be my handlers for my career I would have not only fought for the world title but would have won it and kept if for a long time. But alas… it wasn’t meant to go that way. Apparently, the universe had bigger plans for me.
I won the Canadian ISKA title by beating Conrad Pla in Montreal when I was 18. I fought Mark Mongo Longo for the North American Title in Gleasons Gym – Brooklyn which went to a draw. Many including myself thought I won that fight but it was in the US and I was Canadian so… it was what it was. Not long after that Lennox Lewis won the Gold in the 88 Olympics and he was from Kitchener Ontario Canada so it was only fitting for his pro debut to be in Toronto. They trained in our Kitchener Kicks / Ron Days Kung Fu Academy for that fight so they got to see me in action. They saw a white boy that could fight and took me back to England with them. I actually started in boxing before karate as a kid hanging out at the Boys and Girls Club, London, Ontario, Canada. And although my kicks were my best weapon my hands weren’t too shabby either. But being in the Lennox Lewis pro boxing stable really improved my hands and I had a lot of fun living in London England for a while. John Davenport and Harold “The Shadow” Knight were my trainers. After about 4 months I decided I didn’t like where I was though. I mean Lennox and the guys were cool but London just rained every day and it was really depressing. My high school sweetheart was back in Canada and I really missed her and my family so I eventually quit and headed home. The main thing was I couldn’t believe how many shots to the head I was taking in boxing compared to kickboxing. I mean my legs were wicked so most guys never got the chance to punch me in the head but in boxing that’s all you do. I knew if I stayed in that sport I’d be punch drunk and ugly within a few years. Besides I had been watching Bay Watch on one of the 4 channels England had on their TV and had been California dreaming.
Back in Canada, I worked the summer continuing my electrical apprenticeship with Gordon Electric in my hometown of London Ontario, Canada. I had no plans I just knew that I wasn’t done fighting and still had my dream of fighting for the world title as Leo did. And then it happened. With 3 days’ notice, I broke up with my girlfriend, quit my job and packed up my motorcycle with a tent and sleeping bag, and headed to Hollywood California. Although heartbroken due to making that decision to follow my dreams which didn’t accommodate a girlfriend whom I dearly did love… I also felt more alive than I ever had knowing I was going to take a shot at not only pursuing my dream to fight for the title but maybe even get into Hollywood as an actor. After all Jean Claude Van Damme was there making all his martial art movies so I figured it was worth a shot. It was such a dichotomy leaving your girlfriend, family, friends, and career on a whim for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I sped through the mountains in various areas on the way to Cali with no abandon. So much so that I even crashed once and almost fell off a cliff if it weren’t for that 3-foot-high cement barrier. It was like I wanted to die for what I left but wanted to live for what lay ahead… hard for me to put into words. But apparently, somebody up there likes me and after picking the rocks out of my flesh and a quick stop at a local motorcycle shop I was back on the road. It was the summer of 1990. It wasn’t my time to die yet. Hollywood here I come.
I stayed in Whittier California with Les Sickles, one of my home boxing trainers, brother. Jack Sickles was my mentor in Canada and his brother became that in California. He was 85 when I first met him. We became fast friends and I truly had some of the best years of my life with him as a newbie in Southern Cal. He was now a widower and had been a pro boxer when he was young so just loved tagging along with me to the gyms. I fought and won the North American WKA championship and eventually went to fight Javier Mendez for the world ISKA Cruiser Weight title fight in 1993. I fought him a few years earlier and beat him then he beat me this night and took the title. But the point is my dream was to fight for the world title and I did that! Also I wanted to star in a Hollywood movie which I quickly achieved thanks to befriending legend, Don “The Dragon” Wilson. He became my sparring partner which elevated my fighting skills and put me in a bunch of his movies like Ring of Fire II where I played the lead bad guy.
My film career included Kickboxer 3 as this article is about… the bad guys of the Kickboxer movies. I remember the night my agent told me I got the role. It was about a year to the date of me arriving in Tinsel Town. I was working as the VIP bouncer at the Roxbury which many know was the Studio 54 of the day. I babysat more drunk actors and rock stars than I could count in those days. And sure enough, Jean Claude Van Damme was in the Roxbury that night. I asked Elie Samaha, one of the owners, to introduce me to him, which he did. I thanked him for doing Kickboxer the movie so I was able to get the lead bad guy role in Kickboxer 3. He looked at me and squeezed my cheeks and said with a face like that you should be the star! I laughed and said maybe someday man! Maybe someday! And sure enough, that did happen. I ended up being the good guy in Expert Weapon and Death Match down the line.
Many of you have heard that to make it in Hollywood you have to sell your soul. I’m not 100 on that but I was offered a multi-picture movie deal if I would have slept with a gay producer. I said no thank you and left Hollywood. I had put 10 years into that place and was tired of the rat race and if that was the only way I was going to make it I knew it was time to leave.
Long story longer… I went to NYC and became a filmmaker.
Grégoire Canlorbe: Which leads me in to my next question. How did you move from being a kickboxing-champion to championing holistic medicine and alkaline?
Ian Jacklin: So Hollywood wasn’t a total waste of time. While doing a play I met an actress, J. Cynthia Brooks who like myself had been on Days Of Our Lives among many other shows and movies over the years. We actually had met at the Roxbury years earlier and now working together on a play called Spoiled Women I found out she had just cured herself of terminal cervical cancer. I over heard this at a rehearsal one day and it light a fire under me like few other things have. I said, “What?! You can’t cure cancer what do you mean you cured yourself of cancer?” And as I’ve said before the rest is history. Turns out instead of doing the usual chemo, radiation and surgery she followed a friends advice and did holistic medicine and dropped meat, dairy, sugar. Used a “Rife” machine and meditated a lot. Cured her terminal cervical cancer (of which she was given one year to live if she did the western medical treatments) in 8 months. I had thought cancer ran in my adopted moms family so worried for her I dove in deeper. It was when the internet first started so I researched others that claimed they too cured their cancers with holistic methods and then I would call them too so I could validate via their voice if they were real or not. And they were. So I decided to make a documentary about it and called it the website I also started ICureCancer.com. Thanks to doing that I learned a lot about health and wellness and have been a cancer coach ever since. The key is to drop the acidic lifestyle from what you eat, drink, think, breath and these days the wifi radiation you sit in. You can book a health coaching session with me at IanJacklin.com if interested.
Grégoire Canlorbe: I must say that your fight with Sasha Mitchell at the end of Kickboxer III: The Art of War easily ranks among the dramatic highpoints in the Kickboxer saga.
Ian Jacklin: Wow thank you for that compliment. My favorite bad guy of the series (me included) was Tong Po! He was the best actor. The original kickboxer film with Van Damme was shot so well, too. Edited well. But for a sequel I thought KB3 was done quite well too. And we had Shuki Ron as the choreographer who let me be the pro kickboxer I was to make it what I thought one of the most realistic fight scenes in the series for sure. I mean I was actually still fighting pro kickboxing in the ring in between movies and I don’t know how to movie fight. Just fight. And luckily by time Sasha Mitchell and I worked together he had been training as a kickboxer for a few years so he was much more believable for Kickboxer III: The Art Of War.
Grégoire Canlorbe: How did it feel to play a good guy (and leading character) in Death Match?
Ian Jacklin: I loved being the good guy! I mean I’ve always said in real life I’m not an actor, I’m a super hero. But they don’t pay super heroes, so I have to moon light as an actor.
Grégoire Canlorbe: Do you believe a great action-movie could be made about what you call the “scamdemic”? Would you be ready to act in such movie?
Ian Jacklin: Lol yes that would be great! It would be me and a bunch of human beings fighting the reptiles like in They Live! I have the power to decipher who is one and who isn’t and boom we take out the ones that are. Finally planet earth will be run by human beings, not Draconians!
Grégoire Canlorbe: Thank you for your time. Please feel free to add anything.
Ian Jacklin: I’d just like to say for everyone that wants to be a hero in real life start local. Go to your board meetings and vote out the leftist demoncrats. Watch the movie 2000 Mules to see the truth. Trump won end of story! Not saying he’s perfect but come on. Biden? What joke the bankers played on us!
Get to know your cops and sheriffs and band together. We cannot let the Illuminati scum run us anymore. The whole scamdemic thing must never happen again. They just rebranded the flu and turned on 5G. That’s it! I wrote my 3rd book (all avail on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ian-Jacklins-Health-Life-Books-3-book-series/dp/B09HP8S7JR) ConVid 1984 – Antidote which explains the hows and whys humanity got raped and pillaged by the bankers. I explain how to detox for anyone that got suckered in to the shots. Or just want to be healthy. You must get Alkaline which both my earlier books I Cure Cancer and Alkaline – Dr. Robert O Young’s Diet & Mindset explain. Take good supplements: Whole food supplements: https://ij1111.juiceplus.com Grow your own organic food year round: https://ij1111.towergarden.com
That conversation was originally published in The Postil Magazine‘s July 2022 issue
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