Dens Makleods cīnās “Lauksaimnieks” Burns

Oktobrī 26, 1897, Mārtins “Farmer” Bērnss aizstāvēja savu Amerikas čempionātu smagajā cīņā pret skotu cīkstoni Denu Makleodu.. Bērnss un Makleods tajā laikā bija divi no trim vai četriem labākajiem cīkstoņiem, kas tolaik Amerikas Savienotajās Valstīs..

1,200 fani apmeklēja spēli, kas notika Indianapolisas Lielajā operā, Indiana. Promoters often put a mat or heavy carpet on a stage, where the wrestlers competed. Wrestlers transitioned to boxing rings in the 20^th Century.

McLeod possessed the size advantage. McLeod stood five feet, six inches tall but weighed 200 mārciņas. McLeod was more thickly muscled than the five feet, ten-inch, 165-pound Burns. Burns was strong for his size, but McLeod possessed the power advantage.

Both men were 36 Vīrietis. Tomēr, Bērnss debitēja 1879 pie 18 gadiem. McLeod did not start wrestling until 1890 giving Burns an eleven-year experience advantage. It also meant Burns had a lot more mileage on his body from wars in the ring with Evan “Strangler” Lewis, J.H. McLaughlin, and Charles Green.

After preparing for the match over a year prior, Burns won the American Heavyweight Title from Evan “Strangler” Lewis on April 20, 1895. Burns defended the championship for two years looking dominant in the process. Still, fans and pundits saw McLeod as a serious challenger.

The newspaper reporters filed short, straightforward accounts of this title match leading me to believe the match itself was uneventful. Onlookers often found matches between evenly matched wrestlers to be boring for lack of action. Newspaper reporters often did not have much to write about in the legitimate era.

McLeod won the first fall. He used the neck and crotch hold to pin Burns in twenty-three minutes.

Burns evened it up in the second fall using a combination arm and hammerlock. The newspaper coverage did not detail whether McLeod submitted to the hold or whether Burns pinned him.

McLeod used a half-Nelson from the front to turn Burns onto his back for the third fall at seventeen minutes, trīsdesmit sekundes. As the fans celebrate, the referee raised McLeod’s signifying he was the new American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.

Immediately after his victory, Tom Jenkins and Evan “Strangler” Lewis challenged McLeod for his new championship. Jenkins proved to be McLeod’s biggest rival for the American Title.

Martin “Farmer” Burns built a legendary career as both a wrestler and trainer. After losing his title, Burns transitioned into a new career as a trainer. Viņš discovered Frank Gotch in 1899.

Dan McLeod held the title for four years, lost it and had one more run with the championship. He retired in 1913 and, like Burns, trained wrestlers. McLeod trained wrestlers at the Los Angeles Athletic Club from 1913 līdz 1920. McLeod died in Los Angeles in 1958 pie 97 Vīrietis.

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Sources: The Elmwood Daily Record (Elmwood, Indiana), Oktobris 27, 1897, p. 1, The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, Kalifornija), Jūnijs 24, 1958, p. 59 and wrestlingdata.com

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