This interview is reprinted from the book titled: The Legacy of Grandmaster Angel Cabales; Serrada Escrima
Explosive Empty Hand Fighting; by Anthony Davis with Leo T. Fong. Additionally, as the book was published in 1999,
some of the questions and answers in the interview have been updated for this blog.
Q: Grandmaster Davis, you look rather young to be a Grandmaster, just how long have you been involved in the field
of martial arts?
AD: Currently, I am forty-nine years old, and I've been involved in martial arts for over 30 years.
Q: Of the many styles of martial arts you have studied, which style or styles do you prefer the most?
AD: There are three styles of martial arts that have worked well for me after many years of training; these are Tai Chi
Chuan, Western Boxing, and Serrada Escrima.
Q: Why do you prefer these three particular styles of martial arts?
AD: One of the first principles that I learned from Tai Chi Chuan is the value of relaxation. By being more relaxed I am
able to execute faster strikes. Western Boxing fine-tuned my hand reflexes and footwork. And most importantly
Boxing helped to increase my stamina. Serrada Escrima is the bread and butter of my art of fighting. The
effectiveness of Serrada Escrima lies within its simplicity of application. Whether or not a person uses weapons or
their barehands, Serrada Escrima can be a vital asset to anyone's system of combat.
Q: Who were your instructors of the three styles of martial arts that you just mentioned?
AD: My Tai Chi Chuan teacher was the late Wu Shing Tai Chi Chuan founder and Grandmaster John K.Wong. My boxing
coach and current trainer is a former champion boxer from Mexico City by the name of Jesus Lopez Sr. My Serrada
Escrima instructor was the late legendary stick and knife fighter Great Grandmaster Angel O. Cabales.
Q: Grandmaster Davis, of all of the teachers that you have trained under, GGM Angel Cabales is by far the most
famous of them all, when and where did you first meet him?
AD: I first met GGM Angel Cabales in 1984 in San Francisco, California. I had organized and scheduled a special
Filipino martial arts seminar featuring world renowned " Jeet Kune Do/Kali " Guro Dan Inosanto. Due to illness, Mr.
Inosanto was unable to attend the seminar. After a considerable amount of panic upon my part, I was able to obtain
from GM Rene Latosa the telephone numbers of the late Jiu Jitsu/Escrima Grandmaster Gilbert Tenio, Bahala Na
Grandmaster Leo Giron, and GGM Angel Cabales. GGM Angel Cabales was the primary Escrima instructor of three of
Bruce Lee's top students, Prof. Leo T. Fong, Guro Dan Inosanto, and GM Richard Bustillo. The late Escrima Master Ted
Lucaylucay had also received his Advanced Serrada Escrima certificate from GGM Angel Cabales as well. The seminar
took place as planned and it was an overwhelming sucess. Additionally, Grandmaster Gilbert Tenio along with his
assistant instructor GM John Eliab co-starred with GGM Angel Cabales at this same event making this affair a unique
part of martial arts history.
Q: Besides having been a private student of GGM Angel Cabales, in what other capacities did you work with him?
AD: My special agreement with GGM Angel Cabales centered around me promoting him and his art of Serrada Escrima
to the fullest of my capabilities. In return, GGM Angel Cabales agreed to teach me privately as much as he could
about his system of Escrima.
Q: Grandmaster Davis, it seems that after GGM Angel Cabales died on March 3, 1991, a lot of old and new faces have
surfaced. Also, I have noticed that all of these old and new personalities claim that they are teaching the pure art of
GGM Cabales' style of Escrima. How do you feel about some of these people and the claims that they are making and
have made?
AD: In my opinion there is no such thing as a pure anything. Even GGM Angel Cabales told me many times that he
changed a lot of the information about Escrima that he had learned from his teacher Grand Guru Felicisimo Dizon.
GGM Cabales said that he did this because there were numerous combative tactics that Dizon could perform that he
could not perform, so in order to compensate for what he could not emulate from the old " Wizard ", GGM Cabales
created new innovations that worked well for him. Thus, is why GGM Cabales coined his style of fighting the "
Cabales Serrada System of Escrima ". Serrada or (Cerrado) is a Spanish word which means "to close". Escrima is a
French word which means "to skirmish".
Q: About four decades have already passed since GGM Angel Cabales opened the first official Filipino martial arts
academy in America in 1966, in Stockton, California. Did GGM Angel Cabales ever have any discussions with you
concerning any of his first generation students such as; Mangisursuro Mike G. Inay, Grandmaster Dentoy Revillar,
Guro Dan Inosanto, GM Rene Latosa, GM Leo Giron, Master Jimmy Tacosa and others?
AD: Yes he did. Basically, GGM Angel Cabales always spoke ninety-five percent positive about all of his former
students. Even though some of his old school students had broken away from him and formulated their own Escrima
organizations, GGM Cabales never really put any of them down. In my latter years I have come to realize that GGM
Cabales had firmly established a personal bond with each and every one of his former students; as he had with me,
and he inwardly knew that all of his graduate instructors would continue to represent him in their own individual
ways. GGM Angel Cabales always beamed with pride whenever he talked about any of his students. However,
whatever disgruntlements GGM Angel Cabales may have had with any of his students, he never voiced them too
publicly. GGM Angel Cabales was a genuine gentleman, and a very seasoned fighter as well. If GGM Cabales did have
anything to say to you he would confront you face to face if he could. This is what I really admired the most about
GGM Angel Cabales, he was not the type of a person that would stab you in the back.
Q: Grandmaster Davis, I understand that you were one of the second persons that introduced GGM Angel Cabales'
style of Escrima into various parts of Europe?
AD: This is true. The first Serrada Escrima student to introduce Cabales' Escrima style into Germany was GM Rene
Latosa. In 1989, GGM Angel Cabales and I decided that it was about time to take his art of Escrima into the
international market. So together we devised a master plan to first re-plant the seeds of his fighting style in Berlin,
Germany. As I was born in Augsburg, Germany, I was pretty sure that I could firmly establish his art form there. So in
1990, I flew alone to Berlin, Germany specifically for this purpose. Once in Germany I began the first steps of
constructing an international base on behalf of the Cabales Serrada System of Escrima. Once I had settled into
Germany, I literally taught Serrada Escrima as a guest instructor at several German and Turkish martial arts
academies. None of the schools in Berlin, Germany had ever been exposed to Serrada Escrima before, and it was a
laborious and a monumental task establishing Serrada Escrima at many of these schools. I had to literally engage in
numerous street battles in order to convince the German and Turkish martial artists that the art and science of
Serrada Escrima was no joke and that it really does work. Additionally, I went on to establish Serrada Escrima outlets
in Switzerland and in the country of Turkey as well.
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