Tony Bates

Rochester Middleweight

Two wrestling programmes from Tony's shows, and his summer 1966 contract with Joint Promotions

A young Tony flexes his muscles ... ... but new fiancee June whips him into shape! Picture from "The Wrestler"
July 1965

Feature from "The Wrestler"
December 1965 Feature from "The Wrestler"
February 1967

Tony Bates with a single leg boston, then a cross buttock on Dave Phillips, before Phillips fights back

Flying head scissors on Miguel Santos, than a nerve hold by Santos. Over knee backbreaker, then a pinfall attempt on Jimmy "Tiger" Ryan

Tony takes on Brian Trevors, as referee Tony Mancelli looks on

Bridging to pin Johnny Apollo "Make a wish" Frankie Hughes "Nip and tuck" against Ivan Penzecoff

Here now is Tony Bates' career, in his own words:

I first started wrestling as an amateur at the age of 15 in 1960 when I joined Bill Warner’s wrestling club, which was based in Gillingham, Kent. At the same time I started an electrical engineering apprenticeship with the Regional Electricity Board.

As an amateur I won quite a number of tournaments and on a visit to a travelling fair ground with some friends I was encouraged to challenge the professional on the Boxing & Wrestling Booth. I beat the man I challenged and in doing so put him out of action for some time, so I was approached by the operator of the booth and asked to work evenings and weekends as his replacement. I did this for the whole season, working the Kent area taking on all comers. It was a bit tough at times but the money came in handy at a time when I had just started my training with the Electricity Board.

In 1962 Jack Dale, of Dale Martin Promotions, approached me and asked me if I would be interested in turning professional. Having quickly accepted I was put under the wing of Mike Demitre and trained regularly on Sunday mornings with other wrestlers at Dale’s Gym in Brixton. It was only a short time before I got my first Professional bout for Dale Martin on their Bill at Margate. I remember it clearly, beating my opponent, Dave Morgan, 2 falls to one.

For the next 5 years I wrestled all over the south of England against opponents such as Steve Logan, Johnny Kwango, Clayton Thompson, Tug Holton, Arthur Fisher, Ken Joyce and many others. It was a very difficult time because during this period I was also training as an electrical engineer with the Electricity Board and at the Medway College of Technology, so occasionally my college night school suffered because of wrestling. Following this period I completed my engineering training and got my qualifications from College, and was offered a permanent position designing and managing electrical projects in Kent, unfortunately it meant I had to give up the professional ring.

Since then I not only got married, and subsequently had a son & daughter and 5 grandchildren, I also progressed steadily with my career and ended up as the Projects Director for the Electricity Supply Company taking responsibility for such projects as all the major electrical works associated with the Channel Tunnel Terminal at Folkestone, Electricity diversion works for the Channel Tunnel high speed railway link, and major electrical and railway works associated with winning the Private Finance Initiative for London Underground.

In 1998, at the age of 53, I managed to negotiate my early retirement and now spend my time fishing, playing golf and clay pigeon shooting. In fact I have recently been elected to the Board of Directors of my local golf course.

Tony Bates,
10 November 2005

Finally, a photo of Tony's latest bout in February 2004.

His opponent was an 80lb sailfish in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Kenya. The fight lasted about 40 minutes. In true wrestling tradition, after the fight, the fish was tagged and released.

Many thanks to Tony Bates for sending all this information and the photos.
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