Hackleman was born in New York City but moved to Honolulu, Hawaii at the age of four. He began studying Judo when he was about nine years old. By the time he entered high school, Hackleman was a Golden Gloves boxer and a competitive kickboxer. He had some Shotokan Karate training, but by the age of 10 studied Judo and KaJuKenBo under Walter Godin, with whom he would continue to train until Godin’s death in 2002. Kajukenbo is a mixture of Kempo Karate, Tang Soo Do, Judo, Jujitsu, Chinese Kenpo, and Chinese boxing (Kung Fu), which was developed in Hawaii between 1947 to 1949 and which was developed specifically as a street fighting art.
In 1979, Hackleman enlisted in the Army in response to the Iran hostage crisis. He spent three years as a member of the Army boxing team, during which time he won the state and regional Golden Gloves titles. After leaving the Army, Hackleman worked as a professional boxer under the management of Don King Promotions. Although, there is some speculation that Hackleman's professional boxing record consists of 17 wins, 3 losses, with 15 knockouts, this record cannot be verified. Hackleman's record maintained by BoxRec is 8 wins, 4 losses, with 7 knockouts and 1 draw. Two of his losses were by knockout.
In 1985, Hackleman moved to California and renamed his martial arts style to Hawaiian Kempo. The Pit is one of the Hawaiian Kempo schools that use the Ke-m-po spelling, instead of the more commonly used Ke-n-po. Hackleman describes his style as more hardcore than other Hawaiian Kenpo schools. He gave school the style name "KuZen," a word derived from mix "Ku," the Hawaiian god of war, and "Zen," for Zen Buddhism. This name was intended to attract children and families to his school.
