CHAMPION WRESTLERS
PONS TO MEET ROEBER
Originally Published in The Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1900, Page 18.
Ernest Roeber, the Greco-Roman wrestler, has decided to meet Paul Pons, the massive Frenchman, who came to this country recently for the purpose of meeting the best man in America. Roeber has been accused of being afraid of Pons, but this he denies and says that after he beat Olsen and won back the championship he was satisfied to rest on his laurels. But as many believe Olsen was again victorious, as the Danis papers and the Dane’s friends contended, he has decided to engage in one more match.
Pons and Plenning, the butcher boy, are to be matched in a few days and Roeber agrees to meet the winner.
Plening is a small man beside Pons, whose height is 6 feet 5 ¾ inches and who goes into the ring at 260 pounds and is said to have thrown the redoubtable Youssouf after two hours struggle at the Follies Bergeres last summer. Pons is the wrestling champion of all Europe. He won the championship by wining all the wrestling tournaments at Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Vienna. His last victory was at Vienna; there were forty-four other competitors in the tournaments, and it went from day to day for one month. That was in June of this year. The second prize was gained by Kara Ahmed, a Turk. This manner of having athletic contests is a new thing in Europe and it is a very good thing, for it prevents “faking.” In France there is a much interest in wrestling now.
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