French Wrestler Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Raoul De Rouen

Posted on Wednesday, December 6th, 2017 by John Wood

At 6 ‘ 6″ and 250 lbs, Raoul De Rouen was the wrestling champion of France in 1903. A few years later, he came over to the States to try his luck with mixed results. De Rouen was sometimes called “The Terrible Frenchman” due to his rough and tumble tactics in the ring (which actually got him barred from wrestling in Chicago at one point.)

De Rouen faced a who’s who of mat greats, losing to: Frank Gotch, Yussif “Terrible Turk” Mahmout, Gus “Americus” Schoenlein, Stanislaus Zbyszko and John Lemm. De Rouen’s list of defeats include: Christ Pierson, Hjalmar Lundin, Tom Jenkins, Jess Westergaard, and Leo Pardello.

Julius Cochard

Posted on Wednesday, October 25th, 2017 by John Wood

The French strongman and wrestler, Julius Cochard, possessed an unusual level of strength and endurance. His best known feat was to carry a 220-pound sack on his shoulders from Paris to Reims, a distance of 112 miles. It took him just under a week to cover that distance. He was also very adept at feats of finger strength, being able to snatch and swing 110-pound dumbbell with only one finger. Cochard pulled one of the first recorded impressive deadlifts when he lifted 661 lbs. way back in 1895. Cochard, whose name was also spelled “Cochart” in some circles, weighed around 220 lbs at a height of 5’10”

Raymond Cazeaux

Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 by John Wood

Born into a family of farmers in the Ossau Valley of Southern France in 1881, Raymond Cazeaux went on to became of the greatest French wrestlers of all time. He fought over a thousand matches, tussling with champions from all over the world, the likes of: Ed ‘Strangler’ Lewis, Constant le Marin, Stanislaus Zbyszko, George Lurich, Dr. Ben Roller, Paul Pons, Jess Petersen, Yussif Hussane, Nikola Petroff, and Ivan Poddubny. During his travels, Cazeaux would happily give free wrestling lessons to police officers wherever he went. Needless to say, he made many friends.

Cazeaux was actually not his real name, his given name was Cazeau but early in his career, a promoter thought the added “X” on the end looked better on a poster, and so it was! Cazeaux stood six feet and weighed around 220 lbs.

Rather remarkably, Cazeaux’s fame did not end a century ago, his likeness, was featured as the exotic boxer who was the namesake of Uncle Pastuzo, in the delightful 2014 children’s movie Paddington.

Paul Pons

Posted on Friday, February 24th, 2012 by John Wood

Paul Pons

Paul Pons won what is recognized as the very first wrestling world championship in 1898. Pons would go on to win several more world championships in 1899, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904 and 1910. Like most wrestlers of the day, Pons was also a strongman, and, as a matter of fact, Apollon’s training partner. Though Pons put most of his focus toward his wrestling, he did accomplish several notable strength feats, among them briefly holding the world record in the “Two Hands Anyhow” with a lift of 129 kg. For most of his life, Pons ran a wrestling and physical training gymnasium in Paris where he, Apollon, Batta and many other great French strength athletes trained.