Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
During his first run as World Featherweight Boxing Champion, Abe Attell was based out of St. Louis, Missouri. Besides having his camp in St. Louis, Attell defended his title several times at St. Louis’ West End Athletic Club. At the time, St. Louis was the largest city west of the Mississippi River in the United States. Born Abraham Washington Attell
Bob “Rudy Robert” Fitzsimmons was an English boxer, who won the undisputed middleweight, heavyweight and light heavyweight world championships, at the turn of the 20th Century. Often mistaken for an Australian because he started his boxing career there, Fitzsimmons traveled to the United States in 1890 to campaign for the middleweight championship. Fitzsimmons stood just under 6 feet tall but
Fritz Lang made one of his early crime films in 1922. He directed Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922), which ran approximately four hours and thirty minutes. It tells the story of Dr. Mabuse, a professor of psychoanalysis. He is also the leader of a criminal ring in the mold of Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series. In his multiple
On May 21, 1915, the International Wrestling Tournament began in New York. Samuel Rachman promoted the event as a way to showcase European Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion Alek Aberg. Rachman believed Aberg was the natural successor to World Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch, who retired in 1913. On the first day of the tournament, nationalistic feelings about World War I popped up
The April 12, 1887 edition of the St. Paul Daily Globe carried a story about the bout between feared professional wrestlers, Evan “Strangler” Lewis and “Little Demon” Joe Acton. Other wrestlers feared Lewis’ ability as a submission expert particularly his abilities with the stranglehold. Joe Acton, while undersized at 150 pounds, was a ferocious wrestler. The bout should have been
Ernest Roeber was an accomplished Greco-Roman wrestler. William Muldoon, the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion from 1880 to 1889, wanted Roeber to take over from him as World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. However, the world title would continue to be disputed until George Hackenschmidt won several Greco-Roman Tournaments in Europe during 1901. Yusuf Ismail, the Terrible Turk, was considered one of the
Yukio Tani arrived in England at the turn of the 20th Century. Tani spread ju-jitsu by taking part in challenge matches against professional wrestlers. As part of these challenge matches, Tani demonstrated ju-jitsu. Through the success of these challenges and demonstrations, Tani saw many students sign up to train with him. One of Tani’s best English students used the stage
On June 2, 1915, the International Wrestling Tournament in New York City entered its second week of competition. Some of the tournaments big names were wrestling on this night. Alex Aberg, George Lurich and Wladek Zbyszko would all compete. It was Zbyszko who made the biggest impression. The first match involved two lesser talents, Pierre Le Colosse and Wilhelm Berner.
On March 22, 1919, Ed “Strangler” Lewis met Wladek Zbyszko for the vacant World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. In a surprise victory, Zbyszko defeated Lewis to claim the title. Unfortunately for Wladek Zbyszko, he would only have a cup of coffee with the belt. A month or two later, Zbyszko lost the title to Joe Stetcher. This match was most likely
I’m writing this post to correct an earlier post I wrote about double crosses in professional wrestling. I originally thought double crosses ended after Stanislaus Zybszko double crossed the Gold Dust Trio. Zbyszko, after agreeing to lose to Munn, defeated him in what turned into a legitimate contest for the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Ed “Strangler” Lewis, who dropped the