FOR THE EMPIRE TITLE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 50, 7 June 1940, Page 34

FOR THE EMPIRE TITLE

McCready And Katan Split The Difference ARL McCREADY and John EB Katan, seventeen stone four of Canadian against sixteen stone ten of pug-nosed American, played pitch and toss for the Empire heavyweight wrestling championship last week. Against a go-and-give-it technique, McCready adopted come-and-get-it tactics, but received quite a bit more than he gave. Katan concentrated on stepover toe-holds. He secured them with dangerous ease, and won positional advantage both from the referee’s hold and on the mat more often than McCready, who looked towards the end of the round as if he had been riding a one-sided horse, so sincere had been Katan’s attentions to one leg. The champion can take punishment. Katan had his full weight on that leg for minutes at a time. several times

during. the eight rounds, but sheer strength brought McCready out of it each time without a fall. Only twice did the champion take the initiative successfully. Katan, as usual, had come out of the referee’s hold with the advantage. He was getting headlocks strangely easily, or wristlocks, or, more often, the makings of his punishing toehold. Early in the bout, however, McCready, bent double in a_ wristlock, somersaulted back over his bent arm

and clipped Katan’s head in a flying scissors, In the last round Katan put a big effort into hoisting McCready’s seventeen stone for an aeroplane spin. McCready enjoyed his ride, and came gently to the mat with Katan in a crucifix. He pulled his shoulders over to the mat time and again. Each time Katan jerked back over, and finally pulled one arm out. It was a hard match. These two will probably meet again before the season is over. When they do, McCready’s supporters will attend with a good deal less confidence than they did this time. The champion will have to climb out of his Maginot Line. Katan is too tough to be met with defensive, tactics. ;