Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
On March 17, 1897, current World Heavyweight Boxing Champion James J. Corbett entered the boxing ring at Carson City, Nevada. Corbett faced the challenge of former middleweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons. Corbett entered as the favorite enjoying both an almost twenty pound weight advantage and slick boxing skills. “Ruddy Robert” as Fitzsimmons was sometimes known won the World Middleweight Boxing Championship in
In his book Hooker, Lou Thesz wrote about the rivalry between two of his favorite wrestlers, Joe Stecher and Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Stecher and Lewis would emerge as the two best legitimate professional wrestler of the 1910s. Either man could beat every other wrestler at the time in a legitimate contest or “shoot”. The men wrestled three long, boring contests
Prior to the creation of the territorial system in 1948, pro wrestling promoters fought with each other to control the world championship. Promoting the world champion led to bigger gates, so most promoters wanted to control the championship. In the 1930s, promoters would enter into agreements with each other but they were often fleeting. When one promoter got offended, thought
On November 19, 1935, professional wrestler Ray Steele met professional boxer Kingfish Levinsky in a mixed wresting versus boxing bout. The Missouri State Athletic Commission created special rules for the match. The commissioners ruled the bout would consist of three-minute rounds like a boxing match. The commissioners allowed Levinsky to punch even if he was on the mat. Steele could
In 1899, Martin “Farmer” Burns was transitioning into the role of part-time wrestler and full-time trainer. One of his most famous pupils would be Frank Gotch, who Burns defeated a week after this match. Burns was 38 years-old and had lost his American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship two years earlier. Burns blended both roles on a very busy December night in
Who is the greatest legitimate professional wrestler to wrestle in the United States? How do you determine it when wrestlers “worked” or cooperated with each other in matches since the sports emergence in the 1860s? . I examined the records and stories around the American, British, Polish, and Turkish wrestlers, who wrestled in the United States between 1870 and 1915
William Hayes Shaw, who wrestled as Pat O’Shocker through most of his wrestling career, found himself in the spotlight in 1933. O’Shocker wasn’t looking for this sort of fame though. Newspapers were carrying a story about how wrestling promoters tried to use O’Shocker in a planned double-cross. Joseph “Toots” Mondt booked wrestlers out of New York and was aligned with
In 1933, about 10 years into his wrestling career, Jim Browning would win the world title. Starting his career in Kansas and his home state of Missouri, Browning would have to leave these familiar grounds, if he intended to reach the highest pinnacle in professional wrestling. Because World Champions had to tour nationally, and often internationally, the world title was
I’ve written in the past that Fall Guys: The Barnums of Bounce by Marcus Griffin is a problematic source. While Griffin has insider knowledge due to his time in the Buffalo promotional office in the 1930s, he wrote the book for the purpose of revenge against the promoters who fired him. The book contains factual information mixed in with interesting
James Hiram McLaughlin holds the distinction of being the first American professional wrestler. While people wrestled professionally before McLaughlin, he was the first to earn a professional living from wrestling. McLaughlin began wrestling professionally in 1860 at 16 years of age but the Civil War interrupted his career for a few years. McLaughlin began wrestling again in 1866. By 1877,