In 1966, with only 22 months of training, Joe Lewis had won the grand championship of the first tournament he entered, The U.S. Nationals promoted by Jhoon Rhee. Joe Lewis was approached by Bruce Lee in early 1967 in which Bruce Lee asked him to allow him to teach him the different mechanics from his system in which he gave no name for at that time. Joe Lewis first ignored Bruce Lee because he was not fond of Chinese fighters or Kung-fu non-fighting styles in those days. Later Bruce Lee went through Mike Stone, a good friend of Joe Lewis to capture his attention. In 1967 Joe began training privately with Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee would have Joe Lewis test out his theories of fighting at tournaments. Mike Stone and Chuck Norris were also training with Bruce Lee around this time period. Joe Lewis was voted by the top fighters and promoters as the greatest karate fighter of all time in 1983. Chuck Norris and Bill "Superfoot" Wallace tied for second place. Joe Lewis continued his research into the martial arts science