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Tommy
"Bee" Bottone
 So what do you do if you are a tough and talented top
ranked kick boxing contender who desperately wants a title shot, but you are
not getting enough publicity to attract the necessary attention?
Well if you are Tommy “Bee” Battone, the current holder of six
world kickboxing middleweight championships, you build the event and the
fans and promoters will come. That
is exactly what Tommy did when he and his brother John, a police officer,
created the phenomenally popular New York Ring of Fire
fighting event in 1998.
From his home in Middle Island, New York, where Tommy, a
34-year-old native of the Bronx, is presently in training to defend his
USKBA super Middleweight Championship against Tony “TNT” Ventura, he
recalls how the Ring of Fire came to be, “ I was calling everybody, but
no-one was calling back, until finally someone told me that I should throw
my own boxing show to prove that I had a following.”
Now Middle Island is not exactly the hotbed of east coast kickboxing.
According to Tommy, the only possible entertainment venues for a
fight show in his “little country town” were the deli, the bar, the
pizza parlor or the firehouse. Tommy
chose the firehouse and then started promoting himself and his show.
Just as he was starting to think of ways to promote his
show, Tommy got knocked down with one of life’s most brutal uppercuts when
he found out that his childhood friend, Cindy Quinn, had been murdered.
“She was the sweetest person in the world, everybody loved her,”
said Tommy as fondly described his friend who was survived by her two
children and her husband Brian, who is one of John’s best friends.
“It is just unbelievable that something like this could happen in a
town like this where everybody literally knows everybody.”
Tommy and John decided to dedicate the show to Cindy
and to give the money they raised to her family.
They came to see Tommy and to honor Cindy, with more than 1,000
people filling the old firehouse. As a result Tommy and John promoted
Ring of Fire 2 and in the crowd that night was well known
east coast kick boxing promoter Lewis Leglia, who was impressed enough to
offer Tommy a title shot a few months later against the same Tony “TNT”
Ventura that he will fight again in six weeks.
Tommy went on to win a 10 round decision against Ventura, and has
never relinquished the championship belt since, defending it successfully 9
times.
However, Tommy was already well known as fighter in
Middle Island, but not for the kind of fighting that he is proud of today.
Tommy was fighting on the streets, a self-described “hoodlum” who
was constantly in and out of trouble with the law.
“I gave my parents so many sleepless nights,”
remembers a remorseful Tommy. “My
parents had one good son that was a policeman, and another one bad one who
was being chased by the police.” In
fact, the night before he walked into his first martial arts dojo Tommy was
in jail for fighting.
Tommy remembers vividly his introduction to the martial
arts. “As I was putting gas
in my car I looked across the street and I see this little guy beating up
all these big guys through the window of this karate school, recalls Tommy.
“Well I had to get a closer look at this, so I went over to the
school and watched for a while, and when there was a break I went up to the
little guy and told him that I wanted to come and fight in his school.”
The little guy, who turned out to be kung fu master Sifu Moses Arocho,
told Tommy that before he could start fighting he would have to learn this
ancient Chinese style. To which
Tommy bluntly responded, “I don’t want to do no dancing, I just want to
fight.”
Unable to discourage or dissuade the confident Tommy,
Sifu Arocho invited him to come back the next day and test his street
techniques against some world-class martial artists who were visiting from
South America. Tommy came and
he conquered with just his raw unsophisticated skills and tremendous heart.
“I took on everybody and showed them what I could do,” said
Tommy. A few weeks later, Sifu
Arocho decided to put his prize pupil to the test against a much more
experienced martial artist at an exhibition. The fight ended quickly after Tommy dislocated the other
fighter’s hip, and a local hero was born.
 When Tommy started fighting he had to overcome the
tremendous disadvantage of being unable to kick. “When I was born both of my feet turned in so they had to
break both of my legs, then when I was six the problem returned so they had
to break both of my legs again.,” recalls Tommy.
I can still remember having both legs in casts and my Dad having to
carry me up several flights of stairs to our apartment.”
But Tommy’s leg troubles were not over.
When I was 14-yearold, I broke one of legs again in a motorcycle
accident, and then I broke the other one the next year in a street fight.”
Amazing, through his remarkable dedication and discipline Tommy is
now feared for his great kicking ability.
For as long as he can remember Tommy has always been a
fighter. “I just love to
fight,” said the surprisingly funny and easy going Tommy.
“My favorite boxers were Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard because
they were so fast and had such command of the ring.” My martial art heroes are Chuck Norris, WorldBlackBelt’s
First Founding Member, Bob Wall, the President and CEO of WorldBlackBelt,
and Don Wilson, WorldBlackBelt Founding Member.”
These guys are just phenomenal fighters, but they are still so humble
and kind.”
 A few months ago, one of Tommy’s dreams became a
reality when he was asked to appeared on the now famous “Legends” episode of Norris’ Walker, Texas Ranger
television show along with Bob Wall and WorldBlackBelt Founding Members Howard
Jackson and Cung Le. “It was
such an honor,” said Tommy. “At
first I was going to be one of the fighters on Chuck’s team, but later the
producers called to ask me if I would be willing to be one of the opponents
who gets beat up, and I told them that I’d be willing to be the water-boy
if they would have me.”
When he is not going through his grueling training
routine, Tommy is teaching classes at his successful fighting school in
Yaphank. “What I love most is
teaching children and women because frankly they listen better than the
average tough who walks in my doors.”
Not wanting to get stuck in one style, the multi-talented Tommy
offers instruction in all fighting styles, including kickboxing and
grappling. Tommy a takes great
pride in the fact that two of his students, Keith Youngs and Dan Lucas, have
already become USKBA world champions. Says
Tommy of Youngs, a 23-year-old southpaw, I’ve become his punching bag.”
So respected is Tommy as a trainer, the USKBA named him
the coach of their national team that went to fight in the Ukraine and in
Greece. “It is interesting,
but I never get nervous when I am fighting, but I get really nervous when I
watch one of my students fight,” said Tommy.
Tommy has certainly come along ways since his street
fighting days in Yaphank, and his only regret is that his father Tommy Sr.
never got to see him realize the heights that he has, passing away a few
months before his first bout. However,
Tommy takes comfort in knowing that his Dad is “looking down from above”
and taking great pride in his son’s prolific accomplishments. What Tommy looks forward to is helping others, remembering
that “the martial arts saved my
life, and now together with WorldBlackBelt we can save some
others.”
If you would like to
contact Tommy Bottone you can reach him at bee@worldblackbelt.com
To find out more out Tommy,
visit his official website at Tommy "Bee" Bottone
To view past honoree click here.
By J.P. Koenig
jpk@worldblackbelt.com.
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