WRESTLERS MIX IT

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 32, 1 November 1932, Page 11

WRESTLERS MIX IT

Mamos and Karasick in Vaudeville Turn

PICTURESQUE BOUT

As an entertainment, last evenings wrestling match at the Town Hall was a great success. As wrestling, it was .not quite so good. The contestants were Harry Mamos (I3st. 81b) and Al Karasick (13st. lib), two matmen Who have an acute sense of the theatrical. Supporting each other in an almost miraculous way, they turned on a vaudeville show, flavoured with wrestling, which was most interesting to watch. Mamos won the match by two falls to one, gaining the deciding fall at the beginning of round, six almost by accident. Karasick’s delightful showmanship, his waving arms, picturesque poses and general gallivanting had the crowd pleased right from the first minute. His opponent Mamos was almost as good ana was certainly a first-class foil for the quondam Russian ballet dancer. Every now and then Karasick would shrug his shoulders, turn away from his opponent with a look of infinite scorn and mutter a - few words under his breath. Whether he was ever a ballet dancer has not been proved publicly, but it seemed at all events last evening from the rolling gait he occasionally adopted that he might once have been on the sea - . The impression was'heightened by bls habit of giving the “hitch to his trousers which,” on the authority of W. b. Gilbert, “is a trick all sailors lam. At one stage in the first round he retreated hot foot from Mamos and sought refuge under the ropes on the ring edge. Mamos followed him passionately, and leaned over the top rope, trying to seize him. Karasick rolled on to the floor, rose to. his feet, sat down in a front-row chair and discussed the match for a few seconds with one of the ring-slders. He returned eventually to the ring and took instant refuge behind the legs of the referee, Mr. J. Creeke. As Mamos came after him, Karasick clung to the referee’s leg. ' For all the world it was like a child cling- - Ing to its mother’s skirt. The referee was mixed up with it for a few moments, but soon freed himself. He took his coat off and hung it on the top rope. In the Exterior. ' The second round continued in much the same way, and the crowd rather disapproved of it, perhaps; but the men made up for .it in the third round with an exciting episode, . different from anything yet seen in Wellington. Each caught a headlock on the mat, and they rolled across the ring and out under the ropes, where Karasick on his feet dropped to the floor, still holding the headlock on Mamos, who lay on the ring edge.. Karasick was highly incensed, and began to belabour Mamos with his free band. The crowd in the neighbourhood got all the excitement it wanted, particularly when Mamos rose to his feet and began to pay Karasick back. Both were outside the ring going for each .other, and some of the spectators were taking a hand. But a loud ringing of the gong brought an end to it. Mamos returned to the ring through the ropes, and Karasick came back by way of a corner and the Press table. As he climbed over the Press table he took with him a-felt hat • (belonging to a wrestler), kicked.it carelessly through the ropes, trod on it as if by accident as he climbed through and finally picked up the hat in high dudgeon and threw It at his opponent. It was a new ■type of wrestling. First Fall to Mamos. Mamos soon tied him up in what is believed to be called a “Greek cross.’’ It -is applied by scissoring a leg and holding simultaneously a severe face bar. Karasick bore It for a while, but submitted at 4rnln. 2see. With the gong for the succeeding round Karasick, quite unabashed, made for the nearest ropes and climbed out under t.hem to safety. The remainder of the round saw them once mojo ngh<ing outside the ring, but it was not very dangerous stuff, and no one was hurt. The referree opened round five by calling a short conference with the wrestlers, after which the men got to work more soberly. Mamos immediately inaugurated a series of headlocks, and threw Karasick all over the ring. But Karasick seized him at the right moment with a crotch hold, hoisted him aloft, dropped him to the mat with a dull thud, and lay on him for the equalising fair at 55sec. Mamos seemed to be groggy as a result of it, and was slow to move at the beginning of the sixth. Karasick, on the other hand, meant business, and seized a crotch-hold preparatory to another dump. But Mamos clung to the ropes, and at refused to let go. When he did, however, he fell on his knees, pinning Karasick cleanly to the mat, almost by'accident. Karasick. kicked his legs violently, all to no purpose, and the deciding fall was awarded at 28scc, to the still slightly dazed Mamos. Karasick was not amused..Amateur Preliminaries. The amateur preliminaries, which were also refereed by Mr. Creeke, resulted as fo L° W Nolan (8.2) defeated A. Austin (8.5) by straight falls. J. Needham (9.1) and J. Spaulding (9.13) drew, fall each, in an interesting C °IL St R.' Godfrey (11.10) defeated J. Leif (12.0) by straight falls. : R. Hutcheson (9.0) won on points from L. Boe (9.5) in a lightweight semifinal championship bout. Hutcheson was at his best and much too clever for his scientific opponent.