Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
I recently discovered a three minute clip on YouTube, which included two of Jim Londos’ matches from the 1930s. In the first match, Londos wrestles Abe Coleman. In the second match, Londos wrestles a mixed styles match with Oki Shikina, who was trained by Taro Miyake, the Judo black belt and professional wrestler. Londos was the biggest box office star
On Friday, November 27, 1891, former American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Joe Acton wrestled future World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Bob Fitzsimmons in San Francisco, California. The men wrestled for a reported $1,000.00 purse. Acton usually gave up size to his opponent but Acton outweighed the 148-pound Fitzsimmons by seven pounds. The men wrestled a two-out-of-three falls match according to catch-as-catch-can wrestling
On Tuesday, January 19, 1909, Dr. Benjamin Roller, a Seattle physician and pro wrestler who was good enough to win the American Heavyweight Championship, inexplicably decided to try his hand at professional boxing. His opponent was friend and sparring partner, “Denver” Ed Martin, who would win the Colored World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Roller was a unique athlete
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/mem3a8/Episode_206q4px.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I discuss the career of Sorakichi Matsada, a 19th Century Japanese pro wrestler. Update I discuss the new podcast schedule. Hopefully, Caleb will be back with me for the next episode. I will release an episode on the second Monday of every month. If scheduling allows, a second episode will be
On December 17, 1923, Jim Browning wrestled a rare match in his hometown of Verona, Missouri. Four hundred fans from the surrounding area crowded into the venue to watch the match between Browning and Clarence Jenkins, a wrestler from Emporia, Kansas. Both Browning and Jenkins wrestled most of their matches in Kansas during 1923. Browning was starting a career that
On November 18, 1938, former world wrestling champion Jim Londos wrestled current world champion Bronko Nagurski, the great former football player for the Chicago Bears. The men wrestled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Nagurski’s version of the world wrestling championship. You can view the 14-minute match in its entirety on YouTube. When I viewed the match for the first time, several
On May 5, 1898, Yusuf Ismail wrestled Tom Jenkins in Cleveland, Ohio. Ismail only toured the United States for six months in the early part of 1898. Ismail wrestled less than ten matches but left a path of destruction remembered to this day. Ismail made a powerful impression by easily defeating both Evan “Strangler” Lewis. Ismail also made a strong
On August 11, 1915, current World Colored Heavyweight Boxing Champion Sam McVey fought Sandy Ferguson in Boston, Massachusetts at the Atlas Athletic Association gym. McVey fought in an era where promoters froze out all the African American boxers, except the great Jack Johnson, from fighting for the world championship. McVey defeated most of the other great Black fighters of this
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/witdaq/Episode_199c6lp.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I discuss the 1891 wrestling match between Joe Acton and future heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons. Update I decided to take on a shorter book project on a 19th-Century wrestler to be completed in late summer or early fall 2023. The next project after this book will be a longer book
John “The Nebraska Tigerman” Pesek wrestled two of the most famous legitimate contests of the 1920s. Pesek ended two promotional wars by agreeing to “shoot” contests with Marin Plestina and Nat Pendelton. In 1916, Pesek was an up-and-coming wrestler active in his home state of Nebraska. On Thursday, September 14, 1916, Pesek wrestled another Nebraska wrestler, Chris Jordan. Fans and