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Siku ya Ijumaa, Machi 11, 1932, wrestlers George Tragos and Rudy Dusek faced boxers, Stanley McRae and Tom Pivac in wrestler versus boxer bouts. It took the fans longer to get to their seats than it took the combatants to complete the bouts. The men fought the pair of bouts in Memphis, Tennessee at the Auditorium.

Fans know George Tragos, a middleweight wrestler, as the trainer of Lou Thesz. Despite his lack of size, Tragos could crush most heavyweight wrestlers with his superior submission wrestling skills.

Rudy Dusek, the first of the Dusek family to wrestle professionally was not on Tragos’ level as a hooker but was a superior, legitimate professional wrestler.

Stanley McRae fought as a light heavyweight. McRae won 13 fights, 8 by knockout, and lost 10 fights in his six-year career. McRae quit fighting in 1932.

Tom Pivac, a Croatian-born heavyweight out of St. Louis, had a record of 21 mafanikio, 17 by knockout, na 13 losses. Pivac either knocked out his opponent or the opponent knocked out Pivac as 10 of Pivac’s 13 losses were by knockout.

Tragos fought McRae first. The men moved towards each other with McRae glancing a right cross off Tragos’ ear as Tragos took McRae to the mat. McRae scrambled to the ropes causing referee Bob Luster to order a break.

McRae tried another right cross but missed as Tragos used a double-leg takedown to drop McRae back to the mat. McRae tried to punch from the ground, but Tragos pinned the helpless McRae at 45 seconds of the first round.

Tragos used the same move at the start of the second round to take McRae to the ground. Tragos pinned McRae in only 28 seconds. McRae took the defeat well probably thankful that Tragos did not put a submission hold on him as McRae lay helpless on the mat.

Dusek tackled Pivac as soon as Luster started the second bout. Dusek applied a hammerlock causing Pivac to scream a submission at 15 seconds of the first round. Pivac did not seem eager to continue the bout, but his seconds coaxed Pivac into finishing the bout.

Pivac threw a vicious uppercut as Dusek came toward Pivac at the start of the second round. Dusek blocked the punch and took Pivac back to the mat. As Dusek started to apply the hammerlock, Pivac submitted at 9 seconds of the second round. Tragos and Dusek needed only 97 seconds to take four falls from the boxers.

In most of the mixed fighting style bouts before modern mixed martial arts competition, the wrestlers or grapplers held an advantage over the boxers. Once the fight went to the ground, the boxers could not use their skills as effectively.

For the boxer to win, they needed to knock out the wrestler quickly or stay on their feet. In most cases, they could do neither.

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Sources: The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Machi 12, 1932, p. 12 and BoxRec.com records of Stanley McRae and Tom Pivac

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