Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (32 page)

The status of Helio Gracie’s fight with Miyaki was more up in the air. On
Friday May 11, 1934
Diario de Noticias
over-optimistically announced that they would meet next week,
46
while
O Paiz
more accurately
informed readers that the fight had been postponed and moreover why it had been.

The reason was allegedly that Helio did not feel ready to face
Miyaki and wanted more time to train. The fight was accordingly postponed.On May 20
O Paiz
revealed that the fight would be held the next Saturday may 26, at Stadium Brasil. To enhance his credibility, Miyaki was photographed showing a black belt [
faixa preta
] diploma to promoter Luiz Segreto.
47

Helio may in fact have needed more time to train. It is also possible that ticket sales were sluggish and some additional promotion was needed, such as displaying Miyaki’s diploma (something that Helio couldn’t do because he didn’t have one). Another factor was that the Gracies were waiting to find out what price they would be paying for their assault on Manoel Rufino in October 1932. A verdict was expected soon. Helio Gracie might possibly be in prison on fight night.
48

In May,
Empresa Pugilistica Brasileiro (EPB) announced its slate of contracted fighters for the current season of catch wrestling and boxing. They were divided by nationality. First were Brazilians, then Portuguese, and finally those from other countries. The fighters included George Gracie, Dudú, Roberto Ruhmann, Jayme Ferreira, Miyaki, Shigeo, Renato Gardini and 31 others. With the exception of George, Miyaki, and Shigeo, all were either catch wrestlers or boxers.
49

Jiu-Jitsu versus Jiu-Jitsu

Shigeo was a new face. Not much was known about him.
Diario Carioca
published an article on May 11 titled “Who is the fighter who we will see Wednesday at Stadium Brazil?”

Shigeo was young [
jovem
], flexible [
elastico
] and as agile as a cat [
apresenta uma agilidade feline
]. He was dangerous [
perigoso, temivel
] and unpredictable. No one knew what he would do [
nunca se sabe o que elle vae fazer
]. He was inexpressive [
impassivel
] and had an odd face [
rosto esquisito
]. People who knew him said that he would be a difficult opponent for George Gracie and was capable of great things.
50

The description could have been applied to almost any Japanese fighter. There was no mention of any ring experience. On Apr
il 21, Shigeo engaged in a self-defense demonstration [
demonstração de defesa pessoal
], which served as the “
prova de sufficiencia
” [test of competence], that most fighters were required to undergo. Shigeo’s partner in the demonstration was Miyaki, who was said to be Shigeo’s professor. According to slightly earlier reports, Shigeo had a black belt [
faixa preta
].
51

A Noite
’s article the same day was equally bereft of meaningful information. Although Shigeo was new on the scene, he was always dangerous, at least, based on his only public appearance, the demonstration with Miyaki.
52

Originally, it was Miyaki who challenged George, who had obviously never heard of him and wasn’t impressed. He wasn’t convinced that Miyaki was a genuine “black belt” or that he had fought in
North America. George accepted the challenge anyway and said he would be ready to fight within 48 hours.
53

It didn’t happen. Instead, Miyaki fought Roberto Ruhmann (April 14) and lost. George instead geared up to meet Shigeo (Helio would confront Miyaki in June).

All five of the fighters were under contract to Empresa Pugilistica Brasileria.

The Shigeo versus George Gracie match was scheduled for three 30-minute rounds at Stadium Brasil. Striking was not permitted. George had a slight weight advantage, 63 kilos to Shigeo’s 61 kilos
. The referee was the ex-boxer Kid Simões.

George was confident, as usual. “I will win”
, he said, “it won’t last long” [“
vencerei…não durará muito
”]. His condition couldn’t be better, he added [“
Creio que as minhas condicões
n
ã
o
podiam ser melhores
”]. Shigeo was also abundantly confident [
Shigeo revela enorme confianca
].
54

That was normal. It was unus
ual for a fighter to admit that it was even a possibility that he might lose. Geo Omori was one of the few exceptions when he said that “he would do his fighting in the ring, not in the newspapers, and win or lose, he knew how to be a good sportsman”. Jiu-jitsu matches had the potential to be boring, as promoters knew from experience, so they generally booked luta livre and boxing fights to guarantee some excitement. Accordingly, a boxing match (Gabriel Pena versus Mario Francisco was included on the bill, and a luta livre match between Bergomas and Baxter, who was described as the Canadian catch-as-catch-can champion.

On Wednesday May 16, George and Shigeo locked horns. As often happened, the fight was boring.
According to
O Paiz,
“The fight, like most jiu-jitsu matches, was monotonous. There were four throws, and various attempts at chokes, with the two men rolling around on the ground, wrapped up in their kimonos. Gracie, more fortunate than Shigeo, managed to get the choke”.
55

In any event, George’s prediction was partially true. He won, by choke. Whether it did or didn’t last long depends on whether one thinks that 18 minutes is long, because that is how long it took him to finally catch Shigeo.
56

One observer sarcastically commented that “the famous and efficient Japanese sport has hundreds of techniques, what we have seen in the rings in
Rio so far has been only two types of attack. One is to trip to opponent and the other is to wrap the kimono around his neck and suffocate him”.
57

The comment was not quit correct. Armlocks of various types and footlocks
too had been applied by jiu-jitsu representatives (and by luta livre men as well).

But what he was saying, seen in context of entertainment, made sense. Compared to the range of moves that active collaboration made possible in catch, jiu-jitsu was a limited game.
It may have been as intellectually stimulating as chess for those with a high level of technical knowledge, but chess is not a mass spectator sport. What made jiu-jitsu effective for self-defense also tended to make it boring as entertainment, particuarly if, as they were, throws were ignored or minimized.

A solution to that might have been to reward effective throws. That was considered and even tried in a limited way. The Gracie brothers did not want to match throws with the Kodokan trained people and lobbied against deciding fight outcomes based on throws (apart from one that resulted in a knock-out, which was highly unlikely in a padded ring and when one opponent could simply sit down to avoid being thrown).

According to a picture of the end of the fight in
A Noite
, George choked Shigeo from what is now called half-guard. The picture clearly shows George with one leg hooked in, the other high on Shigeo’s back. According to the report, George’s guard was impenetrable. Shigeo gave up before going out [
desistiu
antes que a perda dos sentidos
].
58

Columnist Dan Shupe, writing in English, summed up the fight as follows: “George Gracie, one of the famous 4 brothers, all Jiujitsu experts, won another victory, last night, when he threw the Japanese Shigeo, by strangulation. He says he is willing to take on that wild bull, Zbyszko, any time the latter is willing to wear the regulation Japanese kimono“
.
59

The catch match was also apparently not impressive. Baxter (89 kilos) pinned Bergomas (109 kilos) in
9:30, after some headbutts [
cabeçadas
] that observers said were little more than nudges with the shoulder [
golpes com o ombro
].
60

Some of the fans at least, found the match quite excit
ing.

While watching the fight, a fan named Luiz Solibury, a merchant, aged 26, native of
Japan, and resident of rua de Riachuela, while rooting for Shigeo, fell out of his bleacher seats and was severely injured.
61

Jiu-jitsu men, including representatives of the Gracie academy, were not averse to participating in catch contests. On Wednesday May 23, at Stadium Riachuelo, Manoel Fernandes beat Manoel Baptista de Constante by decison. Einar Johanssen beat Bill Lyon, by shoulder pin, 16 minutes into round 1; Jack Conley and Jack Russel drew after 30 minutes. Estanislau Zbyszko defeated Zikoff by disqualification; and Karol Nowina and Andres Castano drew.

The following Saturday May 26, Gracie representative Ary Martini would face Zbyszko.
62

Prison

On Thursday May 24, 1934
Diario de Noticias
reported that the Gracie brothers had been condemned to two years and six months in prison” for violating penal code article 304 by attacking Manoel Rufino. Helio Gracie would fight Miyaki next Saturday May 26, apparently before serving his sentence.
63

Life went on. North American boxer George Godfrey, a former sparring partner of Jack Dempsey with a highly respectable record of his own
64
was getting ready to fight Battling Battalino. Next Saturday there would be a “catch-as-catch-can” tournament with the participation of Wladeck Zbyszko, Conway, Conde Nowina, and Bill Lyon. In an interview Gracie representative Jose Cayat promised that “Arab champions don’t do fake fights; win or lose I will fight honestly”. Cayat was one more “Syrian” luta livre fighter who was recruited by Carlos Gracie to represent his school of “jiu-jitsu”.
65

Sports figures who make their own copy are always popular with sports writers. Some are simply easy to write about due to their distinctiveness. The Zbyszko troupe was probably precisely packaged to mesh well with the publicity machine. They were all giants, all champions, and represented the league of nations. Every ethnic or national group could find their champion in the troupe.

The initial Zbyszko Troupe (the Zbyszko brothers, Karol Nowina, Andre Castanho, Jack Conley, Einar Johansen, M. Zicovich, Jack Russell, George Godfrey, Emil Hochwald, Josef Nawrocki) was augmented by foreign and local catchers and boxers such as Renato Gardini, Battling Battalino, Antonio Rodrigues, Joe Zeman, Bill Lyon, Manoel Fernandes, and many others.

Members came and went. Some of them, and some of the original troupe, ended up fighting jiu-jitsu representatives. Wladeck Zbyszko, Jack Conley, Jack Russell, Renato Gardini, and Manoel Ferna
ndes had already fought or would fight jiu-jitsu representatives in the future.
66

In some of the first of the troupe’s presentations, Roque Filho met Oscar Costa. George Godfrey boxed Joe Zeman. Stanislau Zbyszko met Manoel Fernandes, and Karol Nowina confronted Bill Lyon. Tony Marconi, representing
Italy and La Verne Baxter, the Canadian champion, joined the troupe on Wednesday June 20, 1934. Others, perhaps not officially part of the troupe (if there was such a thing as an official ‘troupe’), nevertheless fought in the same events, such as Ismael Haki, Mossoró and Abraham.
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Pardon

On May 28, 1934, accompanied by their lawyer Dr. Romeiro Netto, the Gracie brothers appeared at Diretoria Geral de Investigacões (D.G.I), in order to be formally arrested, as was required before they could be pardoned, as they expected to be.

They were held in the
Secção de Capturas
[temporary detention facility], then transported to the
Casa de Detenção
[jail, house of detention] after which they would be sent to a
Correção
[prison] to serve their sentences.

Fight fans were understandably concerned about this. “What about the fight with Miyaki?” they asked Helio. “I don’t know.
Certainly not in the near future. I need to re-train. I’ve lost my condition. For sure it will be a week”.
68

On Wednesday May 30 Carlos and Helio were dismissed as professors of the Special Police [Policia Especial]. Reasons given were that they were not morally fit to be intructors to the police, and also that their services were no longer required. Both may have been true. Francisco Jose Barbosa, Agenor Sampaio “Sin
hô
ozinho”, and Vico Taddei also were terminated, despite not having been accused of any crime.
69

No sooner had the brothers been sentenced then a campaign was started to get them off. It was spearheaded by the distinguished writer Rosalina Coelho Lisboa Miller, a former Gracie student, and a personal friend of
President Getulio Vargas.

The petition was persuasive. Vargas pardoned the brothers [
Indulto dos Irmãos Gracie. Um ano e nova meses
]. They left the House of Detention on Wednesday afternoon June 6, 1934. The three brothers were highly emotional, particularly Carlos.
70