Sep 20 in General discussion
Happy Birthday Billy Robinson - Sept 18th
Imagine being the last of the catch-as-catch-can wrestlers to train with men like Karl Gotch and Billy Joyce, to have had a hand in training legends from Ric Flair to Kazushi Sakuraba, to have had elite success as a competitor, entertainer, and coach, all while being the star of a movie ('The Wrestler' co-starring Ed Asner) and inspiration for the Japanese comic book character Robin Mask. You'd be imagining that you were Billy Robinson
"I would say right today, without question, that he is the best wrestler in the world. And I say this without reservations because I'm really a super critic about wrestling and wrestlers. I think he's more knowledgable and objective about wrestling. He loves what he's doing, he's devoted his life to it, and I believe he's the number one man in the world today." Lou Thesz (speaking of Billy Robinson)
Billy came from a distinguished fighting family. His great, great grandfather Harry held the bare-knuckle boxing championship of Great Britain, his Uncle Alf won the Lonsdale Trophy and boxed Max Baer, and his father took Tiger Flowers to the distance and defeated American champion 'Kid' Moose.
When a childhood retina injury stopped him from obtaining his boxing license his father took him to the YMCA to wrestle, where he was inspired by meeting catch-as-catch-can greats Benny Sherman and George Gregory.
Emboldened by beating grown men in wrestling, he started at Billy Riley's gym at 15 years of age. Often called the greatest British wrestler of all-time by his contemporaries, he crushed the competition at the amateur level, winning:
• 3 Lancashire titles
• 2 Northern County titles
• British Amateur Championship
• Irish Amateur Championship
• European Open Championship (beat Olympian Gerry Martina)
• Holds win over Bronze medal Olympian Ken Richmond
He left Riley's gym to start his own gym in Manchester where he produced amateur champions like Marty Jones
After his European tournament successes in 1962 he toured Calcutta, Hyderabad, Nepal, Bombay, and Dehli. Impressed by his skill he was invited to wrestle for the King of Nepal in front of crowds as large as 10,000 fans. While there he taught wrestling at the St. Xavier's Catholic Orphanage which held the Billy Robinson Cup tournament every year until 1996!
In 1964 he beat 350lb Kushti champion Tejer Singh in under 1 minute, Billy weighed 210lbs.
Billy's acclaim grew exponentially after arriving in America and Japan where he inspired professional wrestling and MMA athletes, even inspired his own anime character Robin Mask!
We are grateful and very proud that Billy chose Scientific Wrestling as his ultimate choice to continue his impact, influence, and legacy! Do it again!
Happy Birthday Billy Robinson!
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Happy Birthday Billy Robinson - Sept 18th
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