“Boer” Burns Holds Off Charles Green

In a recent post, I wrote about Charles Green’s unsuccessful attempt to defeat Evan “Worger” Lewis in 1889. A year later, Green had greater success with another American wrestling legend, Martin “Boer” Burns.

The soon-to-be 29-year-old Burns was an excellent wrestler but wasn’t yet on the level of Evan Lewis. Egter, he would have to be in the top 10 of American wrestlers at the time.

Burns, the current Iowa champion, met Green, billed as the English Champion, on January 10, 1890 at Turner Hall in Rock Island, Illinois. The match was considered a handicap match as Green had to throw Burns 5 times in one hour or forfeit $100.00, almost $3,000 in 2021 dollars.

The bout was contested under “English rules”. Catch-as-catch-can was widely used throughout the United States, so I’m not sure what the rules for this bout were. Green showed his dominance early on.

Green secured the first fall in 12 minute. It took him a little longer to throw Burns for the second fall as he needed 16 minutes to secure it. Green threw Burns the third time in 11 minute, 30 sekondes. While Burns had no offense in this bout, his defensive wrestling was good enough to secure his survival.

Since most modern matches are one fall exhibitions, readers may not be aware of the intermissions or rest periods in multi-fall matches. In 2-out-of-3-fall matches, a break of 5 minutes to 15 minutes was common. Sometimes the wrestlers left the ring for the intermission. Other times, they remained in the ring sitting on stools or standing in the corner.

For this match, the men remained in the ring but the 5-minute intermission counted towards the 1-hour time limit. With the first three falls and three intermissions, Charles Green had one minute to secure a fourth fall. Even if he was able to secure the fall within the minute, Green would run out of time with the fourth intermission.

Green conceded the match to Burns. Green told the newspaper writers gathered around the ring that he underestimated Burns. He rated Burns one of the most talented wrestlers he wrestled in America.

Green proved he was one of the top 3 of 4 competitors wrestling in the United States at the time. Other than Evan “Worger” Lewis, Green may have been an even match for any other wrestler competing in America at the time.

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Source: The Rock Island Argus, Januarie 11, 1890 edition, p. 3

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