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From Latvia With Love
The Russian strongman appeared on the Dale Martin scene in the fifties and stayed around until 1970, going about his wrestling business in a very serious way.
The name Zaranoff was invented purely for wrestling purposes as the man known as Joe was born with the name Jazeps Kudins, the eldest son of a Latvian mother and Russian father. This was on 5th March, 1932 in the Latvian village of Graveri, where the family owned two small farms.
When the Russians re-occupied Latvia in 1944 it was time for the family to flee west, making a torturous route which eventually brought Joe to England in 1957. He arrived at Liverpool on board the SS Empress of Scotland on 6th April, 1957. Arrival documents stated his last place of residence as Canada and his nationality as “stateless.”
Within months Joe was wrestling in Britain, so we guess he already had some wrestling knowledge. He told the Coventry Evening Telegraph that he had lifted weights whilst in a refugee camp and had boxed professionally whilst living in Canada. Having initially settled in Manchester Joe’s earliest matches were for the independent promoters in the north of England. He made the move to Joint Promotions in February, 1958, travelling nationwide and sharing the ring with the likes of Dennis Mitchell, Geoff Portz and Ernie Riley. It was to be expected that promoters would bill him as Russian, which we would imagine was jarring for this Latvian.
Television exposure came his way in January 1959, a main event matching with Alan Garfield at the Drill Hall, Coventry. This was to be the first of forty three televised matches up to his last against Bruno Elrington in February 1970. High calibre opponents included Billy Robinson, Mike Marino and Andre Drapp. Undoubtedly, the pinnacle of his television career came on 11th November, 1961 when he lost by a knock out to the visiting American Luther Lindsay.
A 1963 victory over Tibor Szakacs in the final of the 1963 Fairfield Hall knock-out tournament is illustrative of the Russian’s standing; as was in 1964 a Royal Albert Hall defeat of the French Heavyweight Champion, André Bollet.
In addition to victory over Bollet Joe made eight more appearances at Britain’s premier stadium. He lost to Bill Verna in his January 1959, returning precisely two years later for a creditable draw with Dennis Mitchell. Two invitations to wrestle in the Royal Albert Hall Heavyweight Tournament resulted in May 1961 with a win over Gil Voiney and a semi final loss to eventual winner Joe Cornelius. Two years later he made it to the final, defeating Bruno Elrington and Horst Hoffman before losing to John DaSilva in the final. His other Albert Hall matches were wins over American Lucky Simunovich, Prince Kumali, Frikki Alberta, and a solitary loss, in tag, with Johnny Czeslaw against Togo Tani and Chati Yokouchi.
Gordienko, DeJaeger, Robinson, Nagasaki ….. Josef Zaranoff wrestled the best that Britain could offer, as exemplified in a 1965 televised classic from Wallasey in which he only went down narrowly in the eighth round to Billy Robinson. On the final night’s wrestling before the close-down for refurbishment of the Wimbledon Palais, it was Zaranoff who emerged victorious in an 8-man KO tournament defeating Bruno Elrington in the grand final. His skill attracted the admiration of many, but he lacked the charisma to gain the popularity acquired by others of his generation.
In 1970 Joe dabbled for a while working for independent promoters, cutting back on his wrestling commitments and sharing wrestling duties as landlord of two public houses, The Helvetia in Soho and The Captain’s Locker in Solihull. In 1974 moved to Warwick, where he and his wife, Vicky, opened a town centre restaurant, Zaranoffs.
The restaurant had a reputation for good food, friendliness, informality and a touch of eccentricity with cartoons, handwritten comments of guests and photos of Joe adorning the walls.
A poignant moment came in 1994. Joe and his wife travelled overland to Latvia, where they failed in their bid to re-claim his family home,
Josef Zaranoff died in 2003
Page added 03/05/2026
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