Dear Friends, to the best of my understanding this Dale Martin match which was billed for the British Heavyweight title was NOT conducted under the Lord Mount Evans Rules of professional wrestling, hence cannot be considered as title change. By the way after this match Baldwin still had his Lord Mount Evans silver championship belt and yes he still was the reigning British heavyweight champion according to the Lord Mount Evans Rules. Thanks.
Hi everyone just back from two weeks holiday in Fuengirola, Spain, and have received emails telling me about this discussion. Firstly I can assure everyone that I have been over this topic with Joe D`Orazio many years ago, and left no stone unturned. Baldwin had been declared the champion before Assirati had left the country, which was a terrible insult to Britain`s greatest ever wrestler, on Assirati`s arrival back in the country he demanded a showdown with Baldwin, a man he had beaten some fifty times, and whom Dale Martins were earning big money by billing him as the champion. The bout took place and in the words of Joe D`Orazio Assirati gave Baldwin "the TREATMENT" a phrase used in wrestling when one wrestler get`s ahead of himself, and starts to belief his own publicity. Baldwin wore dentures, and when Assirati started putting on the power holds like his famous side headlock, he almost chocked Baldwin with his own dentures, after this match the wrestlers nicknamed Assirati "the Dentist"
No one had any doubt who was the REAL champion, no one disputed that Assirati was the best heavyweight Britain had produced, or the titles he had won...British, Empire, European, and World Title (European version) no one dared to challenge Assirati to a real SHOOTING match, for a large amount of money, no one sued Assirati for claiming the British title, no one sued the promoters, the sports writers, the wrestling governing bodies for billing Assirati as the British champion. When Assirati returned from his tour of the Far East, India, Pakistan, and South Africa things had changed, lighter wrestlers were now top of the bill, and Dales wanted Assirati to retire, but Bert would have none of it, he gave Baldwin a bad beating to show Dales he was still the champion, and anybody who wanted to challenge him for the title, would have to go through him, and agree terms with him, he didn`t wrestle for titles, or belts, he wrestled for BIG money, no other wrestler earned the money he made, over, and under the table. After beating Baldwin he should have been presented in the ring with the belt, but excuses were made, and when Assirati was asked about the absence of the belt he replied
"tell them to stick it in the post" meaning the belt had no value, or credibility, to cement his superiority over Baldwin he beat him again a week later in Hull. The match was billed as "wrestling`s most controversial contest" the wrestling fans took this to mean that Assirati was upset at not being billed as the official champion, a title he was never beaten in the ring for, and was going to give Baldwin a good beating for claiming squatters rights to his title. And this is what happened.
This is not the first time another wrestler was billed as the official champion, George Gregory was billed as the champion after Douglas Clark failed to turn up for the title match, and forfeited his title 1941, no sooner had Gregory declared himself champion Assirati challenged him for the title, and then Gregory was unable to turn up for the match and Assirati was declared champion 1942. Douglas Clark didn`t want any part of Assirati and went into retirement 1943. Which then left Assirati and Gregory to fight it out in a North/South clash for the official title which Assirati won 1945, and defended again against Gregory, and ALL other challengers.
When Assirati returned from his successful tour of the America, and resumed wrestling in Britan in early 1933 he found that certain promoters would not give him a day`s work, the most prominent was George Relwyskow Snr who became the manager of Douglas Clark, and kept his wrestler as far away as he could from Assirati, and Assirati`s manager his Father Dan who constantly challenged Clark for the title. Relwyskows refusal to allow Assirati to wrestle in the North at his top venues would later be declared "restraint of trade" .....Assirati was cast into the wilderness, which made Boxing`s Archie Moore`s long time in the wilderness look like a lost weekend.......Assirati had beaten Athoill Oakley in 1931 when he was billed all over the country as the "All-In" British heavy-weight champion, and so declared himself the "All-In" British heavy-weight champion, and defended it against all comers, and defied anyone to take the title from him. His Father Dan had got his Son a contract with The Ring, Blackfriars to exclusively work for them only, and they always billed him as the Official heavyweight champion.
It could be said that Assirati was the British champion from 1933 to 1960 that`s how mat fans, and wrestling historians regarded him, the only British wrestler to be entered in the Guinness Book of Records being un-pinned in Britain for a record twenty-one years.
I believe the best heavy-weights of the thirties were.........
Bert Assirati
Max Krauser
Douglas Clark
George Gregory
Francis Gregory
George Clark
Tiger Duala
Heinrich Froehner
Mike Brendel
Kola Kwariani
Best for now Mike....................