WORLD WRESTLERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20103, 24 November 1939, Page 3

WORLD WRESTLERS

RANKING OF JIM LONDOS FORMER CHAMPION’S VIEW “With the exception of _ Ed. Strangler Lewis, who in my opinion reached the peak in the wrestling code, Jim Londos stands alone among modern ■ matmen,” writes Ted Thye, former light-heavy-weight champion of the world. “Lewis was superior to Londos. only because he was three stone heavier than the Greek. Lewis, however, was a wrestler of the old school. A deadly, pinner and a master of all the holds, he lacked the speed and powers of entertainment of Londos.

“I have seen all the great wrestlers of the past generation,” continues Thye. “As a boy I watched George Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch. Down through the years I have seen Fred Beall, Joe Steelier, Earl Caddock, Lewis, Zbyszko, Wayne Munn, Sonnenberg, Shikat, De Glane, Jim Browning, O'Mahoney, Levene, Nagurski and Detton win world championships. Londos, built somewhat similarly to George Pencheff, has given me my greatest thrills. Londos is faster than Dean Detton, as virile as King Kong Cox and a better pinner than John Pesek.”

Last year in Athens, Londos drew a crowd of 90,000 Greeks to a title match. This is an all-time lccoid for wrestling. Londos and Lewis drew 120,000 . dollars in an open-air match in Chicago in 1935, and Londos and the late Jim Browning wrestled before a 90,000 dollar crowd at Madison Square Garden in the same year, ..