Wrestler and Man

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 145, 22 June 1939, Page 8

Wrestler and Man

POPULAR PAUL BOESCH RENEWS OLD FRIENDSHIPS Paul Boesch, one of the most popular and efficient exponents of the matman’s art ever to have visited the Dominion, arrived in Palmerston yesterday, a day ahead of schedule. A magnificent specimen of athletic manhood, this handsome and attractive wrestler has a genius for making friends and has had a busy time since he arrived renewing old acquaintances in the city. He visited New Zealand in 1936 and since then has wrestled in Canada and the United States, meeting among others King Elliot, the ex-Palmerstonian. Boesch considers that the great interest aroused in the sport of which he is so fine an exponent is of considerable value, especially at a time when the necessity for physical fitness is being urged upon the youth of tho nation. “Young fellows who see wrestlers in action are fired with an ambition to build better bodies,” was his comment. Himself a non-smoker and total abstainer, Boosch says that from boyhood he aimed at physical perfection and he has certainly come very near his ideal—except for a couple of cauliflower ears! For some years he was a leading professional basketball player in the United States, where that pastime is not a “girl’s game” but a fast, scientific and very strenuous sport which draws crowds of 20,000 in the big cities of the United States. Last night the visiting wrestler attended the Y.M.C.A. to watch tho basketball matches and give the players some expert advice. He was warmly received and by . his general personality established himself as a warm favourite with the local players.

Talking of his match with Martinez to-night at the Opera House, Boesch said he felt extremely fit and was eager to reverse the decision in his previous encounter with the hefty Spaniard. The wrestling public in this country, he added, appeared to have developed a taste for rougher tactics, and he had not come unprepared to indulge their fancy. Since his last visit he has added one or two new holds to his already varied equipment, and followers of the exciting sport should see some fireworks to-night.