Jim Londos Wrestling in Egypt in 1937
Details of Jim Londos' three matches in Alexandria, Port Said and Cairo.
There was talk of Jim Londos wrestling in Egypt as early as 1933, and it finally happened in 1937. Back in the day Egypt used to have a sizable Greek population so naturally the biggest Greek pro wrestling name coming to Egypt attracted a lot of attention, and not just in the Greek community either.Londos ended up wrestling the Americans Joe Campbell (twice) and Reginald Siki. All three matches were wrestled in 10-minute rounds. Londos was billed as the World champion and all three matches were presented as championship matches. The International Wrestling Federation was the organization said to be sanctioning his title. This was the title that Londos had won earlier in South Africa in a match with the top South African star Johannes van der Walt. When he came to Egypt, Londos had the championship belt with him. That belt is still around today and is in the possession of Londos' daughter Christine.
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| Left to right: Jim Londos, Joe Campbell, Reginald Siki (Regis Siki), El-Sayed Nosseir |
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| Jim Londos' World Championship belt from South Africa |
All of the information below comes from Greek newspapers, most of them based in Egypt and some based in Greece. Londos traveled back and forth to Egypt visiting other places between his Egyptian matches so I've also included some notes where he was at different times. Regrettably, I couldn't find any information on who the promoters of the Londos matches in Egypt were. For the Alexandria match, for example, it was reported there was an organizing committee, but no specific names were mentioned.
Jim Londos in Egypt (and elsewhere) in May-July 1937
The Londos/Campbell match was officially announced on 9 May 1937. The local Greek press called Londos coming to Egypt "a long-standing dream for the Greeks of Egypt". Before the match was announced, there was some talk in the press that Ed Don George, who was in Europe as of April 1937, was the other option for a Londos opponent.
Londos arrived in Alexandria on 17 May on board the steamship "City of Cairo". Here I would like to quote one of the local Greek newspapers, because their account of his arrival paints quite the picture:
"The excitement that our guest from yesterday, Jim Londos, causes as soon as he appears somewhere is indescribable. Even if he is careful, because he really draws attention from many who wish to shake his hand, you see, his physiognomy is so familiar that as soon as they see him, he immediately becomes an object of admiration. Then, many approach him and most of them shake his hand and wish him good luck. At the dock yesterday, the commotion was unprecedented. Around 4,000 Greeks, natives and foreigners were waiting for the ship that would bring the first athlete and as soon as it docked and Jim appeared on the bridge, heavenly cries of joy pierced the atmosphere. But this was nothing compared to the pandemonium that followed when Londos stepped off the ship. The crowd tore through the strong police cordon, broke through the wooden fences, lifted him onto their shoulders and, with cheers of joy, carried him to his car. There, moving scenes unfolded. Everyone was grabbing him to see what this man of steel was made of. For a moment, an elderly Greek man bends down and kneels before him, takes his hand and brings it to his lips, and Londos is moved and embraces him. The crowd cheers."
Londos also gave a brief interview to reporters. He said he had wanted to visit Egypt for the past 6-7 years now, but had only been in Egypt once for about a day when he was returning from South Africa. He was especially interested in visiting the Sphinx and also wanted to visit the pyramids. Later in the day Londos visited the offices of the three local Greek newspapers and visited three local sports clubs where wrestlers trained to scout out a training location for himself. At the third club he watched a few training matches with local amateurs.
On 19 May Londos wrestled with a Greek wrestler by the name Georgios Lefakis at one of the local Greek sports clubs. It was a public workout, part of the promotion for the upcoming show, as was often done back in those days. About 1,000 people were in attendance. The Londos/Lefakis sparring session was filmed. The following day Londos trained at the Olympic Stadium.
Londos' opponent, Joe Campbell, arrived in Alexandria on 19 May, on board the steamship "Esperia". The story that he pushed to the press was that he had been following Londos around the world for the past two years and trying to get a match with him.
23 May 1937
Alexandria, Egypt
Municipal Stadium
12,000 fans
Jim Londos def. Joe Campbell in the 7th round (1 hour and 6 minutes)
There was a prolonged ovation for Londos' victory. Some fans broke through the police cordon and came up to the ring to celebrate with Londos. They embraced him, kissed him, shook his hand, etc. Later in the night an excited crowd paraded through the streets of Alexandria, carrying two photos of Londos. They went to his hotel, the Windsor Hotel, and would not leave until Londos came out to greet them. He did and gave a small speech.
Parts of the Londos/Campbell match were filmed and later highlights were shown in Egyptian cinemas. Highlights from Londos matches from abroad were being shown in Egyptian cinemas around this time too.
The Londos/Campbell match was refereed by El-Sayed Nosseir (an Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting from the 1928 Olympics, Egypt's first ever Olympic gold medalist in any sport in fact).
Right before the Londos/Campbell match the ring announcer read a telegram by Henry Irslinger (the top pro wrestling promoter in South Africa at the time, someone who Londos has wrestled for in the recent past). In the telegram Irslinger was challenging the winner of the match on behalf of the South African Johannes van der Walt and the Italian Lorenzo Bartolini.
There were two additional matches on the card. The reports didn't mention whether they were amateur or pro, but I would assume amateur. One of the matches was the aforementioned Georgios Lefakis taking on Ibrahim Moustafa (Egypt's first ever Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, having won light heavyweight gold in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1928 Olympics). The Lefakis/Moustafa match specifically was under Greco-Roman rules.
At the start of the event the ring announcer read the rules of freestyle professional wrestling (a.k.a. catch-as-catch-can pro wrestling) to the crowd.
There were a lot of high society people in the crowd, including a couple of Egyptian princes and the governor of Alexandria. According to one report, some fans had started lining up at the stadium as early as 11 am (the event had a 5 pm start time) and some had traveled 5-10 hours to come watch the match. The nearby hills and houses were packed with people, wanting to see the big Londos match.
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| People carrying Jim Londos on their shoulders as he arrives in Alexandria |
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| Newspaper advert for "Of the Greek Glory" Jim Londos vs. "The Hope of America" Joe Campbell |
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| Photos from Jim Londos vs. Joe Campbell in Alexandria |
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| Newspaper advert for a cinema showing of Jim Londos vs. Joe Campbell |
On 9 June Londos headed back to Greece on board the steamship "Heliopolis".
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On 19 June Londos came back to Alexandria. Later that day he traveled by train to Port Said where he was greeted by a large crowd at the station.
20 June 1937
Port Said, Egypt
Port Said Stadium
4,000 fans
Jim Londos def. Joe Campbell in the 5th round (44 minutes)
It was a similar scene after the match as in Alexandra. The crowd broke through the police and military to come to the ring to celebrate with Londos. Later in the night a crowd gathered at Londos' hotel (the Eastern Exchange Hotel).
The Olympic gold medalist El-Sayed Nosseir refereed this match as well.
Originally the match was supposed to take place in Cairo, but the location changed.
Afterward Londos headed to Alexandria and from there back to Greece.
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On 4 July there was a big pan-athletic festival at the huge Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in support of the Greek National Air Force. The event featured running, long jump, motorcyclist performance, tug of war, relay race, weightlifting, amateur Greco-Roman wrestling, cycling race with obstacles, and a firefighting demonstration closed out the event. Right before the firefighting, Jim Londos wrestled his fellow Greek pro wrestler John Maxos in a 20-minute exhibition bout. The Prime Minister of Greece and the Crown Prince of Greece were both in attendance for the event. As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister made his entrance into the stadium with Jim Londos by his side.
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On 5 July Londos left Piraeus, Greece, on board the steamship "Heliopolis" and headed for Alexandria. He arrived on 7 July.
On 8 July Londos took the express train to Cairo where upon arrival he was greeted by about 2,000 people. They carried him on their shoulders and then followed him to his hotel (Hotel Continental). Later that day Londos went to a basketball game and then attended a dinner at a Greek restaurant that was put together in his honor by about 25 sports editors from the Cairo press.
On 9, 10 and 11 July Londos had public workouts at the National Sporting Club of Gezira.
Londos' opponent Siki arrived in Cairo a few days before Londos. Campbell was right behind him. Like Londos, Siki and Campbell were also doing public workouts at various clubs around the city.
One report used the expression "Londosmania" to describe the mood in Cairo the day of the event, which I thought was a great line.
11 July 1937
Cairo, Egypt
Farouk Stadium (National Sporting Club Stadium)
8,000 fans
Jim Londos def. Reginald Siki in the 6th round (57 minutes)
Again, the crowd broke through the police and surrounded the ring to
celebrate with Londos. Londos had to make a speech to calm things down.
The crowd continued celebrating outside of the stadium too and took the
celebration to Londos' hotel.
An Egyptian wrestler by the name of Hamdi Mustafa refereed the Londos/Siki match.
The card also featured a Joe Campbell vs. El-Sayed Nosseir time limit draw. As mentioned, Nosseir was an Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting, but he did also have experience in freestyle wrestling. This may have been his first professional wrestling match.
According to one report, about 1/10 of the crowd were Greeks.
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| Newspaper advert for Jim Londos vs. Reginald Siki in Cairo |
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| Another newspaper advert for Jim Londos vs. Reginald Siki in Cairo |
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| A newspaper illustration showing where the entrances to the stadium were |
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After Cairo, Londos headed back to Greece. On 18 July he defeated Joe Campbell in Patras and on 25 July he defeated Johannes van der Walt at the huge Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. These were his last matches in Greece in the 1930s.
Acknowledgements: Thank you to WrestleMap for some of the information on Londos in Cyprus.
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