William Muldoon Prepares to Be Champion

In 1880, William Muldoon would become World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion in the Greco-Roman style after defeating Thiebaud Bauer, the reigning champion. Before he would accomplish this feat, Muldoon had to pay his dues and prepare for the title tilt with Bauer.

In 1876, Muldoon caught the attention of former bare knuckle prizefighting world champion John Morrissey. Morrissey was a former Tammany Hall enforcer. In recognition for his service to the New York political machine, Tammany Hall would elect Morrissey to the New York Senate. Senator Morrissey obtained a commission to the New York City Police Force for William Muldoon.

Two years later on Friday, März 15, 1878, William Muldoon met fellow police officer John Quigley for the New York Police Athletic Association’s Wrestling Championship. Muldoon, nicknamed “The Solid Man”, defeated Quigley in two straight falls.

Muldoon weighed 225 pounds to Quigley’s 215 Pfund. Muldoon’s spectacular feat that ended the second fall is what led to the bout’s inclusion in many far away newspapers. The March 16, 1878 Ausgabe der Cincinnati Daily Star carried an account of the bout.

During the second fall, Muldoon secured a body lock on Quigley, lifted him above his head and held him for several seconds. Muldoon then threw Quigley to the ground with such force that vibrations were felt through the floor.

The spectators, who were all policeman and their guests as outsiders were forbidden, gasped at this display of strength. The spectators vowed that never had such a throw been achieved in a match with men of that weight.

While 225 pounds is not that large for an athlete today, William Muldoon was a huge and powerful man in the Nineteenth Century. Muldoon could still inspire fear in such fearsome men as John L. Sullivan when Muldoon was almost forty years old.

After this match, Muldoon challenged any wrestler either amateur or professional with the exception of Thiebaud Bauer or Australian wrestler Dr. William Miller to a match for his silver cup. He wanted a little more seasoning before he took on these formidable opponents. Von 1880, he would feel comfortable enough to challenge Bauer for the world title.

Muldoon actually wanted to take on Bauer in 1879 after he healed from a broken ankle. Jedoch, his superiors threatened to relieve him of his position as a police detective if he took the match. The police officials did not say why they would not let him wrestler Bauer.

Muldoon suffered one of his rare defeats in 1879, when Dr. Miller beat him for the gold medal in a wrestling tournament. Muldoon achieved revenge in a two-out-of-three falls match with Miller in April 1880. Muldoon then challenged Thiebaud Bauer. After this victory, Muldoon would resign from the New York Police Department in 1881. It would be the first steps on both Muldoon’s championship run and path to America’s first celebrity trainer.

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