Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
On February 23, 1906, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Marvin Hart defended his title in Los Angeles. When James J. Jeffries retired as heavyweight champion, Hart and Jack Sharkey fought for the vacant title. Hart was the surprise winner of the fight. Hart refused to fight Jack Johnson, the recognized best heavyweight. Instead he fought Tommy Burns, a 5’07” skilled boxer.
I wrote this post due to a conversation I was tagged in on Twitter about the 1911 rematch between Frank Gotch and Georg Hackenschmidt for the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Jim Cornette, who besides being one of the best managers in professional wrestling is also a noted pro wrestling historian, talked about the double cross in the second Gotch-Hack match
During the Golden Age of Radio, the Shadow was a crusading crime fighter named Lamont Cranston. In this 1933 English film produced by Real Arts Productions, the Shadow is a villainous murderer and blackmailer. The film opens up with the Shadow demanding payment from a famous lawyer. The Shadow promises to expose the lawyer who can’t pay. Facing exposure and
On Tuesday, February 22, 1910, Ad Wolgast challenged World Lightweight Boxing Champion Battling Nelson for Nelson’s title at Richmond Arena in Point Richmond, California. The 28-year-old Nelson won the title by knocking out the great Joe Gans in 1908. Boxing experts did not expect Wolgast to defeat Nelson even though Wolgast held a newspaper decision over Nelson in 1909. Pundits
In combat sports, a good big man usually beats a good little man. If you are great, you can often make up for huge size discrepancies. Edwin Bibby stood only 5’04” and weighed 160 pounds but defeated many larger wrestlers during his professional wrestling career. Bibby defeated many wrestlers including the gigantic German wrestler William Heygster. Edwin Bibby was able
On November 30, 1871, a large crowd of men boarded ten rail cars on the New Orleans, Mobile and Texas railroad as it stopped on Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. The train continued on to Montgomery Station near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where the crowd left the rain and made their way into the woods. Such an odd procession
When World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion William Muldoon retired in 1889, he hoped his protege Ernest Roeber would be recognized as the new champion. However, Muldoon won his title in Greco-Roman wrestling, which was the German-born Roeber’s expertise. Unfortunately, the exploits of Martin “Farmer” Burns and Evan “The Strangler” Lewis catapulted catch-as-catch-can wrestling into the dominant style. Roeber did have a
Johnny Reagan was an important fighter in the St. Louis boxing scene during the first decade of the 20th Century. Originally from Brooklyn, Reagan moved to St. Louis to train under Jack McKenna. McKenna based his operation out of St. Louis, where his fighter primarily fought at St. Louis’ West End Club. Reagan was a rising bantamweight at the time
When “The Russian Lion” George Hackenschmidt toured America in 1905, he left the country unimpressed by the state of American wrestling. The current World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, known as “Hack” to much of the wrestling public, toured several cities in an attempt to arrange a match with American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Tom Jenkins. Hackenschmidt won the world title in Greco-Roman
On Thursday, September 7, 1876, Tom Allen defended his World Heavyweight Bare Knuckle Prizefighting Championship against fellow Englishman Joe Goss. Allen, originally from Birmingham, England, settled in St. Louis, Missouri. Allen eventually became a U.S. Citizen. Allen showed a pugnacious personality, inside and outside the ring, making powerful enemies amongst the sporting men in the United States. Allen particularly irritated