On April 15, 1963 Jersey Joe Walcott engaged in a boxer vs. wrestler match with legendary wrestling champion Lou Thesz. Thesz pinned Walcott in the fifth round, but has stated that Walcott knocked him (Thesz) down and most likely out in that fifth round. As he fell to the floor, he relied on instinct, grabbing Walcott's knees, taking him down with him and stretching him out for the pin.
 

OLD-TIMERS GRAPPLE WITH TODAY'S STARS
by Bob Broeg
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

October 12, 1997

Lou regarded British crowds as most appreciative. But perhaps the most unusual night was when he performed in what was Memphis' first mixed match.

 
"Mixed in both senses of the word," he said. "The first, I recall, between a white and black performer and, in addition, mixed with a wrestler vs. a boxer."

Earlier, Thesz had seen Steele dispatch heavyweight boxer King Levinsky here in a Depression-era gimmick. It lasted only 35 seconds. Lou's foe was more formidable, ex-heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott.

The bout, in three-minute boxing rounds, went into a fourth with lefty Lou, barehanded, fending off the fisted Walcott's jabs and punches. Suddenly, Jersey Joe landed a home-run punch. Thesz's knees buckled.

"Going down," he remembered, "I saw -- and caught -- Joe's knees. I took him down. That was all."

Years earlier Thesz suffered a broken knee after football's famed Bronko Nagurski dropped him over the top rope for a nine-foot fall to a concrete floor.

That should have been all, too, but the absence of more than a year just gave Thesz more time to crack the books.

Information and photos on this page taken from:
 

Memphis Wrestling History

http://www.marksfiles.com/