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Eugene Stezycki was a friend of Bert Assirati, but few would have believed it. The two men wrestled each other around fifty times over a three year period with a great deal of blood being spilt, most of it Eugene’s. Assirati was renowned as a very hard man with a willingness to hurt, but these two must have had a very good routine.
We have received unconfirmed information that Eugeneiusz Stezycki was born in Bydgoszcz, a city in northern Poland in 1924. Having served in the Polish army and then endured a German labour camp he came to Britain around 1950. With sporting interests that also included boxing and weightlifting he settled on wrestling and by 1953 was wrestling professionally. Our earliest sighting is a match with Len Britton, with an unconfirmed earlier contest against Ernie Riley.
For three years he wrestled for Joint Promotions, a seemingly routine run of matches against opponents that included Len Britton, Farmers Boy, Man Mountain Benny and Charlie Scott. A tussle with Bert Assirati at Brighton on 22nd July, 1956 was a defining moment in his career. It was a tremendous tussle, repeated again at Belle Vue in Manchester a few weeks later.
From that time on Stezycki’s place in wrestling was established. With Assirati working for the independent promoters on his return from the Far East in 1956 he and Eugene took their epic battles round the country. Without exception they were all action affairs booked by all the principle independent promoters, one of the most memorable being a particularly bloody European title clash at the Seymour Hall on 15th December 1958. These bouts established Eugene Stezycki as one of the toughest wrestlers in British rings. He disappeared from our rings in 1959.
Eugeniusz Stezycki died on 19th July, 2007.
Page added 23/07/2023
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