FORSGREN DRAWS WITH SPELLMAN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 137, 26 June 1937, Page 15

FORSGREN DRAWS WITH SPELLMAN

Straight and Solid Wrestling Last Night SURFBOARD OCTOPUS Straight and solid wrestling with a negligible quantity of tihowmanship was provided in th© profes^ional contesD between Jack Spellman, 15.10, of U,S.A., and Jack Eorsgren, 10.8, of Canada, at the Hastrugs Municipal Theatre last evening. The honours were dcvided on points, eaeh gaining a fall. Tn almost every respect the pair were cxeeptionally even'ly matched, and it was because of this, no doubt, thab they could not take any rislis. Cousequeiioly the bout was not as Colourfii: as anticipated, Nevertheleiss, it Was a splendid exhibition of wrestling, and for once there was little demur at the decision being a draw. The wrestling was interesting enougli, though a goou deal of it was heavy going and, at close quarters, Porsgren provided a showing in keeping with his previous exhibitions in Hastings, but Spellman was a newcomer and as Such was expected to provide something new. ' In this regard he did not disappoint the crowd, for he exploited for the first time in this distrfct the surfboard octopus, a speeialty of his inodiAoci from Tom Alley;s much-boome.d (in America at least) Australian surfboard hold. Spellman also revealed something quite new in his variation of the familiar short arm-scissors. Both men worked smoothly from the ontset, After a trial of strength for a wristlock had favoured Spellman he proceeded to exOrt the pfessure UUtil the Canadian sought the shelter of the ropes. Eorsgren came back again to clap on a vicious headlock, and held this for several minutes until Spellman neatly trapped his head in a scissors and kept it there until the end of the round. It was early in the second session that Spellman introduced his variation of the short-arm scissors by using ixis own leg as the bar inatead of the arm, as is cnstomary. Eorsgren punched his way out of that after all other efforts had i'ailed. A bright exchange of forearm jolts preceded Eorsgren 's clapping on a bddy-seissofs, and on breaking each took a tutu at dropping the other to the mat With kicks, Solid, straight Wrestling was the main feature of the third round, the one main highlight being the surfboard octopus, which Spellman applied by sitting with his feet planted on Eorsgren 's back and at the same time grasping the latter's arms and drawing tlieiU backWards. It looked a good thing for the Amefiean, but unfortiinately he had to break it owiug tb ihe bell. Th© crowd cheered Spellman as he proceeded to punish Eorsgren With an arm-strangle in a manner that was characteristic of Forsgren himself. Upon breaking, Spellman tossed his man twice with headlocks and then essayed a lunge, but Eorsgren met him halfway and rushed ih to grab a Boston crab for a fall in Smins. 22secs. Eorsgren was the agg'ressor for the t> t art of the fifth round, and was working hard on a hammerloek when Spellman worked into position for a backloop slam, but the Glanadian grabbed the ropes much to the annoyance of the crowd, who liad installed Spellman as hot favourite. The American handed dttt a generOus dose of elbow jolts, hiid Eorsgren dived out of the ropes to be greeted by hoots and showers of peanuts. Coming back into the ring, he clapped on a clever Japanese leg trip and leg-lock and was on top as the round ended, The next canto opened with Forsgren biting his way out of a bunny-hug, and this led to an eiciting five xninutes during which the pair indulged ih elbow jolts, near-punches and a lot of stamping on each other, Spellman nndoubtedly having the better of tiiis little battle. Spellman wafc now goihg full ont to even up th© falls, and he was workiing hard on the Canadian, but the lhtter was as good on defence as he was on attack. Each tbssed the othef several times, and there was a good deal of armwork, While Spellman was clearly angling for a lift and dump, but the opportunity did not come his way before the gong w6nt. The Canadian came out the aggressor and tossed kis man three times heavily to the mat, but Spellman made good use of the fopes itt the cornef and kicked out with bdth feet to lift Forsgren offi Ms feet and into the cOntre of the rifig. Spellman then handed out several forearm jolts and, lifting the Canadian on to his shoulder, took him for an aeroplane spin and finally dumped him to the mat to end tke contest With -an equalising fall in 83 seconds. THE PEELIMINARY CONTESTS. The four amatenr bouts earlier in the Oveniug were unusually interestdng, all being excellent contest's, with plenty of actioii and entertainment. Thore whs an unusual ending to the fotirth and final bout between McCofmifck and Dlincan, the senior-sergeant of police instructiiig th© referee to e ' call it ofi: " owing to tlie fact that both cdntestahts wbre profuSely bleeding from the nose. Eesiilts were as folloW: — A. Skudder 11.10 dOi'eated G. Drayson 11.4 by on6 fall to nil after a good, StrenUous contest. J. Boyd 8.3 defeated H. Eendle 9.2 by tWO etr'ajlght falls, both lads being very active and OntefpfMng in the ring. J. Stewart 12.7 defeated L. Haftka 13.7 by one fall to Uil after a spletidid exhibition, particularly by SteWart. J. McCormick 10.4 drew with V. Duncan 10.6 on points, there being no fall. Mr Alex. Andetson, of Palmerston North, refereed all contests. It was annottuced that the next fortr.ightly contest bv the assoeiation would be between Earl MeCready and Kirilinko.