Following on in our Study of Wrestlers from GREECE Visiting our Shores in the early 1960's
-we also Witnessed a truly Outstanding Greek Matman-CON PAPALAZAROU Who proudly
claimed he had never been Defeated in the 10 Years of his Wrestling Career before coming
to BRITAIN in 1963!-CON Fought all over the World-AUSTRALIA in 1959 then on to AMERICA where on MARCH 6TH 1962 He Won the WORLD JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP! -He was a great Wrestler to watch in Action with his Fantastic
Speed,Strength and Agility and though a Master of a great many Wrestling Holds-his
Favourite 'Speciality' was the AEROPLANE SPIN!!-CON was Invited over to Wrestle some
Bouts for DALE MARTIN and proved to be an immensely Popular Wrestler!!
Article/Poster to follow!!
MAIN MASK
Thanks Ed, nice work. Who would have thought one of our promoters fibbing to us? Whatever next?
While Con Papalazarou was a fine wrestler, his alleged "undefeated for ten years" record contained losses to Angelo Savoldi (on Thursday 11 February 1960 in Sydney, Australia), Leo Garibaldi (on Thursday 18 August 1960 in Sydney, Australia), Baron Von Heczey (on Friday 12 July 1963 in Sydney, Australia) and Sheik Wadi Ayoub (on Saturday 17 August 1963 in Melbourne, Australia and again on Monday 19 August 1963 in Adelaide, Australia).
I imagine that Papalazarou also suffered a number of defeats during his North American tours.
Wrestling historian Phil Lions has also reported that Papalazarou lost the Greek Heavyweight Title to Dimitris Karystinos in 1954 in Athens, and that Haralambos Karpozilos also beat Papalazarou in 1958 in Greece.
Here's a few bits & pieces on Con:
Here he is.
The Wrestler magazines assertion that he had remained undefeated for ten years seemed less than credible as he notched up a sequence of British defeats, not just against the usual suspects Georges Gordienko, Bill Robisnon and Josef Zaranoff but against lesser lights that included Johnny Czeslaw.