DEMETRAL WINS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 275, 16 August 1932, Page 11

DEMETRAL WINS

Interesting Wrestling at Town Hall SURPRISE FOR WILSON While wrestling Harry Demetral, “The Greek Leopard,” at the Town Hall last evening, George, “Wildcat,” Wilson made the mistake of appealing to the referee, Anton Koolman, without keeping an eye on his cunning opponent. The men had a fall each at the beginning of the sixth round, and Demetral’s open-handed slaps were annoying Wilson. So while Wilson turned to the referee, Demetral turned to Wilson, taking him to the mat and bouncing up and down on top until Wilson’s breath and resistance vanished simultaneously. Demetral had no difficulty in pinning him to win the deciding fall and the match. With the men nearly of the same weight—Demetral was 13st. 121 b and Wilson 13st. 101 b.—it was surprising that there should have been even as much contrast between them as there was. Demetral’s nuggety, well-rounded frame was a healthy tan against Wilson’s paler colour, and the styles of the two were equally dissimilar. Demetral’s breathing was audible from start to finish, probably as much in the gallery as at the ringside, and he wore occasionally a look of chagrin Interesting Wrestling. In the first three rounds no fall was. won, and it seemed clear that for most of the period Demetral was giving his opponent something of a wrestling lesson. Only the frequent splits which Wilson developed, often with cleverness, seemed to trouble the more experienced Demetral. And Demetral gave an all-round show which was interesting to watch. Wilson contributed to it, so that the wrestling was probably better—as wrestling—than any that had been seen previously this season. Demetral’s First Fall. Demetral walked out briskly with the gong flor the fourth round, advanced upon his man and seized a headlock, cross-buttocklng Wilson to the mat with a wallop. After holding him for a few seconds he rose to his feet, still with Wilson’s head in a vice-like grip, and crashed him down to the mat again. The performance was repeated vigorously twice more before the men came apart on the mat. Had they not separated it looked as if Demetral would continue the routine for an indefinite period. But after the fourth journey to the mat he took Wilson in a forward headlock and threw him overhead, landing on the mat still with the headlock, and pinning him for the first fall of the match. Only 45 seconds of the round were gone. In the next round Demetral attempted the same set of moves, but when rising to his feet the first time, with Wilson’s head safe under his arm, Wilson brought up his knee sharply and accurately, and Demetral shot forward, propelled from the rear. The opening to the preceding round was not going to be repeated if Wilson could avoid it. Demetral began to experiment again with headlocks, when Wilson suddenly sprang to life and uncorked a succession of flying tackles which took Demetral amidships and bowled him over defenceless to bp pinned for, the equalising fall at 6min.' 2sec? Slaps and a FalL In the sixth and last round Wilson again tried some tackles, but Demetral went warily this time, and eluded the more dangerous of them, working to a corner, where he rapidly got the best of Wilson and had him on his shoulders. The men were recalled to the centre of the ring, and it was here, as tfiqy were getting in and out of grips, that Demetral’s gratuitous slaps got on Wilson’s nerves. While he was appealing to the referee in the hope of getting a stop put to it, Demetral came in sideways, took him to the mat in the twinkling of an eye, bounced up and down on top of him and pinned him at Imin. 36sec. It was a whirlwind finish and a big surprise for Wilson. A section of the large crowd hooted for some reason, as wrestling enthusiasts often will. But it was plain that 'the better man had won, although surprising that he should have taken so long to do so. Amateur Preliminaries. The amateur preliminaries, which were refereed by Mr. J. H. Thompson, resulted as follow:— R. Hutchinson (9.1) defeated L. Spaulding (9.13) by a single fall obtained with a headlock in the first round. H. Bartlett (Wellington), 11.0, gave J. Hutchinson (Masterton), 10,3, a tor* rid time and won from him by two falls to none, gaining them in the first and third rounds. L. Boe (Wellington), 9.7, defeated K. Page (Masterton), 10.0, by straight falls in quick time in the first: and second rounds. E. A. Brown (14.4) defeated A. Glastonbury (14.0) by a single fall gained with a body scissors combination In the second round of the most interesting amateur bout of tfie evening.