Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (31 page)

Omori’s confidence was misplaced. The lack of kimono hindered Miyaki, who fell prey to Ruhmann’s famous headlock. But Miyaki demonstrated extraordinary technique during his 26 minutes in the ring.
23
In any case, Ruhmann was very strong [“
Ruhmann é muito forte
”], as Miyaki said after his loss. Ruhmann praised Miyaki’s skill. “I’ve never faced a man with such mobility” [“
nunca estive na frente de um homem de tanta mobilidade
”], he said. Miyaki wanted another chance, this time in a kimono.
24

Ruhmann earned a shot at George Gracie. Miyaki had acquired a little more name-recognition which would prove useful in the lead-up to his scheduled meeting with Helio Gracie in what would be billed as the first “jiu-jitsu versus jiu-jitsu” match in
Brazil. That match would be held in May. Unless some unforeseen circumstance prevented it.

Gracie Luta Livre

Two of his luta livre students” introduced by Carlos Gracie in January were now ready to enter the rings, in preliminary fights to the Dudú versus Young Kid Mery “match de catch as catch can” at Stadium Riachuelo on Wednesday April 25.

Ary
Martini was making his debut against Peçanha (called “Big Jones” in some reports). Ary was something shy of 100 kilos, but in Rio in the 1930’s, 80 kilos was considered big. He was 175 cm. tall, and as agile as a “
peso leve
” [lightweight]. He was known as “o terror” due to his strength and aggressiveness [
aggressividae e resistencia
]. Peçanha (Big Jones), weighed 85 kilos and was said to be Dudú’s strongest sparring partner [
o mais forte sparring de Dudú
].
25

Two other Gracie representatives would be making their luta livre debuts, Edward Stone against Jose Soares, and Alberto Suleimã (74 kilos, from
Syria) would meet the valiant Portuguese Mossoró. Suleimã, it was said, had alteady been the São Paulo jiu-jitsu champion.

It wasn’t absolutely necessary to win a fight to gain from it. Miyaki lost to Ruhmann but made a positive impression.
26
He and his black belt student Shigeo planned to perform a demonstration of jiu-jitsu during a program of boxing (Januario versus Horacio Velha; Ismael Haki versus Antonio Sebastião; Tapi versus Pires, and Lazaro Gil versus Acosta) at Stadium Brasil.
27

90 Lessons

Oswaldo Grace inaugurated a “New School of jiu-Jitsu” [
Nova Escola
] located in room 204 of the Odeon Building in the center of the city, in the Cinelandia area, near rua Santa Luzia. The director-administrator was Dr. Mario Zagari, the well-known all around sportsman. Instruction took the form of private lessons. A complete course consisted of 90 lessons [
curso de aulas individuaes de jiu-jitsu sob a direcao de Prof. Oswaldo Gracie. O curso é de noventa aulas
].
28

The
“Troupe”

May 1934 was a pivotal point for fights in
Brazil. It was the month that the international troupe of wrestlers came to Rio, led by former world champion Wladeck Zbyszko
29
and his older brother Stanislau, the former world luta livre champion.
30
It was also the point after which, according to one well-placed participant-observer, almost all fights were “
combinadas
” [worked]. It barely mattered. Fans were more concerned with entertainment than reality as long as the fakery was not excessively obvious, in just the same way that the general public preferred watching movies with skillfully staged and dramatically coherent fight scenes rather than chaotic and clumsy genuine fights. (Good stunt fighters provide what movie-viewers think a fight looks like, which they have learned from watching movie fights). In any case, the press was happy. More fighters meant more fights, and more news content. International fighters were even better. Since they were not locally known, they, their managers, or the press could say virtually anything. Every word they said or wrote might be true. But it didn’t have to be.

The troupe and the sport that they represented was itself news. On Tuesday May 8 it was announced that the famous catch-as-catch-can champion Zbyszko would arrive the next day.
31

Catch as catch can
(also spelled catch-as-catch-can, and often referred to simply as “catch”), was not entirely new to the Brazilian public,
32
but was less familiar than luta romana. It was generally defined as “luta livre internacional americana”, or “lucta norte americana”, or something very similar. In any case, it was thought of as a uniquely North American sport (which, of course, could be practiced anywhere by anyone who chose to). Its most obvious difference from luta romana was that the legs could be used to attack the opponent, and as targets. The aim of the contest was not to throw the opponent to the floor, but to keep him there, or to force him to submit by reason of pain resulting from the application of pressure and torsion. Compared to luta romana, “catch” was exciting and violent [
empolgante e violenta
].

The
Zbyszko troupe consisted of 12 fighters.
33
Eleven of them arrived May 9, at 10 a.m. on board the “General Osorio”. They were the Zbyszko brothers, Conde Karol Nowina from Poland, Andre Castanho from Spain, Jack Conley from England, Einar Johansen from Norway, M. Zicovich from Russia, Jack Russell and George Godfrey from the United States, and Emil Hochwald and Josef Nawrocki.
34

Empresa Pugilisitica Carioca (EPC) had prepared a reception for them. The fighters would proceed from the disembarkation point in a caravan of “cars” pulled by a band of trumpeters dressed up as Roman gladiators to the headquarters of the Association of Sports Columnists [
Associação de Chronistas Desportivos
].

Members of the press were invited to attend as were any and all fans but especially members of the various “colonies” in
Rio, such as Spanish, Poland, Russian, England, and German. The troupe had a champion for every national or ethnic group (and was ready to recruit other champions as needed).

The plan was to introduce them to the public in a more naturalistic setting the following day (Thursday May 10) at Stadium Riachuelo. They would then rest up one day and make their ring debut on Saturday (May 1
2) at campo de Botafogo.
35

Previously, catch had been synonymous with luta livre, and both terms were somewhat context-dependent, as their names suggested. Wladeck Zbyszko and his troupe were introducing the latest version of catch, which was more blatantly theatrical. Being associated with
North America, the home of “Dempsey” and “million dollar gates”, catch had built-in crowd appeal. Indeed, catch matches had even been staged at the mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden (Tex Rickard’s base of operations), “Catch-as-catch-can” was introduced as “a new and spectacular American sport in the American rings” accompanied by a photograph of a wrestler applying a hip throw on his opponent.
36

In fact catch was essentially luta livre, but calling it catch made it seem new and exotic. “Catch” and “luta livre” were generally used interchangeably but also at times to distinguish one from the other in some way. Possibly the primary difference was that catch simply seemed foreign and implied the participation of an international cast of enormous fighters, most
of whom were champions of some kind. But writers, promoters, and teachers could use the words as they saw fit, and generally did. By distinguishing catch from luta livre, one could promote two different matches with the same two fighters, or offer to teach two different “styles”, as George Gracie’s student Ricardo Nibbon did in 1935. In other cases, catch was probably used rather than luta livre simply because it sounded North American and therefore cool.

Jiu-jitsu did not disappear. Helio Gracie was scheduled to fight the Japanese Miyaki, whose name was variously spelled and misspelled. Despite Helio’s long period of inactivity due to his motorcycle accident
,
O Paiz
was certain the the fight would be one of the sensations of the season.
37
The match had been promoted since April. It would be Helio Gracie’s first jiu-jitsu fight, according to
O Paiz,
38
forgetting that he had squeaked out a technical draw against Namiki in 1932. Carlos Gracie again cautioned that it would be unwise to bet against Helio, despite his recent injury. Helio, he said, was going to prove that no one on the current scene could beat him.
39

After the usual false starts, the fight was scheduled for Tuesday May 15.
40
But the next day it was announced that the match would not take place after all (
não se realize mais a lucta Helio x Myaki
). Instead of Myaki versus Helio, George Gracie would meet  Shigeo. Shigeo was Miyaki’s student. He was even more unknown that his teacher. The date was also moved from Tuesday to Wednesday May 16, 1934.

Jiu-jitsu continued to cohabit with luta livre. More often then not, jiu-jitsu fighters participated in luta livre matches and jiu-jitsu and luta livre representatives happily cooperated whenever it was profitable to do so. It would be more accurate to say that professional jiu-jitsu scratched out a subsistance living in a minor niche in one corner of the luta livre world. Some jiu-jitsu people’s insistence on “keeping it real” often conflicted with the more compelling need to keep it entertaining, an area where luta livre had a decided edge.

Exhibitions and demonstrations (
lutas academicas
) were not directly lucrative, and were part and parcel of marketing other fights, either specifically or yet to be arranged.

For example, when luta livre man Mossoró, a locally recruited member of the Zbyszko troupe, was scheduled to perform an exhibition with Dudú, Carlos Gracie took advantage of the publicity by announcing that his student Alberto Suleimã wanted to fight Mossoró.
41
Whether a fight happened or not was almost incidental. Announcing a desire to fight someone was enough to get into the news.

The promoters did not mark time before revealing the Zbyszko troupe to the fight
-hungry Carioca public. To give fans an idea of what to expect, the rules of “catch as catch can” were explained Friday May 11 and various times thereafter.

The prohibited attacks were (1) fingers in the eyes [
dedos nos olhos
], (2) punches with the closed hand, [
socos com as mãos fechadas
] (3) pulling the hair [
puxar os cabellos
] (4) hitting the neck with two hands together [
golpes na nuca com as duas mãos juntas
] (5) twisting the fingers [
torção de dedos em separado
] and (6) biting, knee strikes, and low blows [
mordar
,
dar joelhadas
,
aplicar golpes que affectem os orgãos genitaes
]. Almost everything else was permitted: headbutts [
cabeçadas
], straight kicks [
ponta-pés
], twisting the joints [
torções
], head-locks [
gravatas
], strangles [
estrangulamentos
], strikes with forearm or hand [
golpes com o ante-braço, e com a mão
], including slaps and chops [
tapona e cutiladas
], leg kicks [
rasteiras
], shoulders throws [
balões
], etc.
42

Victory could be obtained
by (1) applying pain or pressure to the extent that the opponent gives up by tapping the mat three times or telling the referee that he doesn’t want to continue; (2) pinning the opponent’s shoulders to the mat for three seconds; (3) rendering the opponent unconscious for 10 seconds, and (4) throwing him out of the ring and he doesn’t get back in within 20 seconds.
43
The judges’ decision was final. It was added that they would not be held responsible for deaths, emphasizing the great violence and excitement potential of the North American form of luta livre.

The rules were not greatly disimilar to jiu-jitsu rules as described in previous chapters, including the shoulder pinning rules, which had always been part of Kodokan competition rules, whether called jiu-jitsu or judo (although the precise application differed)
.

The issue about pinning may not have have arisen for marketing reasons but it had a profitable effect. It permitted any luta livre versus jiu-jitsu match to be extended into a series simply by
having the jiu-jitsu representative lose by pin, protest the result, and then present another match without the pinning rule.

The season of catch as catch can was set to begin on May 11with a “grande torneio internacional of catch-as-catch-can”.
44
The first matches would be Jack Conley versus Mossoró, Zicof versus Dudú, Stanislau Zbyszko versus Johannsen, and Andre Castanho versus Jack Russell. Three boxing matches (one professional between Alvaro Santos versus Jaboty and two amateur) were also presented.
45