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Here’s a man who certainly deserves a place in our wrestling heritage but about whom information is scarce. A bald headed middleweight/light heavyweight from Poland he appeared in Britain in the late 1950s. It’s easy to understand why he chose to use the name Ski rather than his family name of Scezepanski .
At the time of coming to Britain he was already an experienced forty year old on mainland Europe, where he was particularly well known in Germany. On arrival in Britain in 1958 he unsuccessfully challenged Tommy Mann for the world middleweight championship. The match took place at the Music Hall, Aberdeen, and it was reported that Joe had the beating of Mann as far as skill was concerned. Mann changed to very aggressive tactics, finally overcoming the challenger in the tenth round. Mann was booed by the Aberdeen fans as the result was announced.
Josef went on to have a mixed bag of results against classy opponents such as Tony Lawrence, Harry Fields, Bert Royal and Mick McManus. The list could go on because he spent much of the years between 1958 and 1962 working in Britain, facing just about all the middleweights and light heavies of note as he travelled throughout the country, with a further championship challenge against Tommy Mann and European welterweight champion Alan Colbeck. Following retirement from wrestling Josef is believed to have taken up refereeing in his adopted homeland of Germany.
Page added 09/03/2025
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