Martial Studies
It may be surmised that Vizzio’s personal discovery of Kung-Fu, with its Eastern spiritual overtones, helped him to productively focus his tremendous energy, thereby avoiding the fate so typical of many undirected inner city youths. He has said, in fact, that most of the friends of his childhood are dead or in jail.
In the early sixties Vizzio began studying Fu Jow Pai (Tiger Claw System), in New York’s Chinatown, with Grandmaster Ng Wai Hong, the Grandmaster of the Fu Jow Pai system, and President of the World Fu Jow Pai Federation. Vizzio earned the rank of Sai Chuon (Fourth Degree Blackbelt) under Grand Master Hong. He also studied with, and later taught kickboxing for, Shotokan Master, Toyotaro Miyazaki, who is a lifelong friend and godfather to Vizzio’s first child, Veronica.
Boxing skills learned in his youth were further honed with professional boxer Emilio Narvaez, Robert the Bear Alvarado, Sammy Alvarado and noted trainers, John Rainier and Phil Borgia. It is probable that the balance of hand techniques perfected there, combined with the strong, varied kicking techniques of Fu Jow Pai, contributed considerably to Vizzio’s unprecedented success at kickboxing.
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