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Beginning at the beginning, George Modrich was a man who was in at at the start. Readers of A Year In Wrestling – 1930 will know that Modrich wrestled George Boganski on 15th November, 1930, in an exhibition of the new style wrestling that was about to be unleashed on an unsuspecting British public. The following month Modrich was back once again, this time at the higher profile public launch in London of the “New Catch As Catch Can” style at the National Sporting Club, London. On December 15th he faced Henry Irslinger, losing to the veteran over three ten minute rounds.
Even these were not Modrich’s earliest encounters in British rings. Born in 1893 George Modrich was a Croatian born New Zealander with a background of ten years professional boxer, having arrived in Britain in February 1929 to make his British boxing debut. On 12th February, 1929, he had opposed Guardsman Charlie Penwill at Lime Grove Baths, which was later to become a regular professional wrestling venue. George knocked out Modrich in the second round but lost two further British boxing contests in 1929.
George appears to have been a wrestler, turned boxer, and drawn back to wrestling at the time of the wrestling renaissance when his boxing career had peaked. We have found records of him wrestling in New Zealand as early as 1917, two years before his boxing debut at Auckland Town Hall. There is something of a mystery about his background. He is billed at times as a Croatian, Serbian and New Zealander, and manages to be champion of each country simultaneously!
Modrich was a world traveller, leaving England shortly after in the autumn of 1931, returning in 1936, always in competition with the top names of the day: Douglas Clark, Bert Assirati and Bill Garnon. Finally he sailed away on the Strathmore on 13th April, 1939, destination Australia.
Page added 04/02/2024
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