WRESTLING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 210, 18 June 1936, Page 2

WRESTLING.

BOUT FOR TO-MORROW NIGHT. Two exceptionally vigorous wrestlers will meet in the professional heavyweight contest which is to be staged at the Majestic Theatre, Ashburton, to-morrow night, and: their wrestling styles are such that there will be no end of excitement for the spectators. They are Joe Kopach Woods, who has made himself a great favourite with New Zealand audiences, and Chris Zaharias, who will be having his first match in the Dominion. They are of practically the same weight, and both wrestle along aggressive lines, being ready and willing to deliver or absorb any amount of punishment, thus being the type of men who appeal most strongly to the public. Woods has been a wrestler and a boxer since his youth but it was in fighting with the gloves on that he first made his mark, winning the amateur heavy-weight championship of the United States in 1925. He has been a professional wrestler for the past six years and, among many other successes, has drawn with Gus Sonnenberg, the former world champion, and has beaten Al Karasjck, a wrestler well-known in New Zealand. Zaharias comes of a great wrestling family, and is recognised as a rising star among the matmen in America. After learning the game from his father and his brother George he had valuable experience in training with Jim Londos when this famous countryman held the world title.

MEHRINGER BEATS WOODS. AFTER PENALTY FALL. CHPJSTCHURCH, This Day. Felled with a heavy blow to the face, Pete Mehringer (United States) was a.warded a penalty fall, and won, in the sixth round of his match against Joe Kopach Woods last night. Woods had

been warned for continual elbow jolting, and after one severe blow had Mehringer almost out on the mat. The referee, stopped Woods, gave a penalty fall against him, and with one fall previously to the credit of each man, the match went to Mehringer, who seemed as though he might not have been able to continue. Until it stopped, the contest had been fast, clever, and exciting, and had been acclaimed by the spectators as the best here this season.