The late Mike Marino passed away in 1981 and he was the great sportsman of wrestling for so long and he appeared on ITV Sport since 1955 at West Ham Baths London against Francis St'Clair Gregory and he firm friends with Kent Walton.
The Great contest with Wayne Bridges at Crawley,Sussex and Mike won in round 4 and the crowds cheered both men with the wonderful wrestling skills as well in the summer of 1975,sadly no with us anymore.
The Memories of the late Mike Marino and Wayne Bridges,the great icons for so long.
Terry Christie.
John M
50m
In John Lister's book 'Have a Good Week...Till Next Week' it says that Mike Marino debuted on 22nd April 1948 vs Sonny Wallis.
Also, I read somewhere that during World War 2 he served in the Commandos between 1943 to 1945.
I don't for sure if either of these are correct but maybe somebody could confirm them or not?
John is very reliable and so hopefully he can clear this up for us. The 22nd April match is the earliest of Ray Plunkett's that The Ost referred to, and it's not the name Marino on the bill, it's Milo. The report of the match confirms that it was Milo Popocopolis facing Wallis that night.
In John Lister's book 'Have a Good Week...Till Next Week' it says that Mike Marino debuted on 22nd April 1948 vs Sonny Wallis.
Also, I read somewhere that during World War 2 he served in the Commandos between 1943 to 1945.
I don't know for sure if either of these are correct but maybe somebody could confirm them or not?
he Ost
5m
Replying to
Hack
I haven't done a deep dive on his career, but that is the earliest one i've seen also. Ray had a Ramsgate bill listed but that was Milo not Marino.
I agree. Can't see anything earlier. But there is potential. And it's unlikely to just pick up a debut in an isolated advert.
Your advert, 1948, is an early one Ron. But Mike was 27 years old by then and his cousin Joe D'Orazio said that when he turned pro in 1948 Mike was already established. So I think we have a few earlier ones to find.
Very early Mike Marino