He worked as a miner in Nanaimo, British Columbia[2] and wrestled his first match in 1889,[3] winning the Pacific Coast heavyweight championship that same year.

[4] On 26 October 1897, McLeod defeated Martin Burns to win the American Heavyweight Championship, which he would retain for four years.

The most notable incident during his reign as champion came far away from the media spotlight when on 18 June 1899, McLeod met and defeated a young Frank Gotch in a hard-fought impromptu match on a cinder track.

[5] It was Gotch's first professional match and he later recounted that McLeod had hustled all involved by pretending to be a simple furniture dealer from a neighboring town, but was sufficiently impressed by Gotch's talent to leave him a visiting card revealing his true identity.

Amid a series of rematches between the two men, McLeod recaptured the title on Christmas Day 1902[8] but lost it to Jenkins the following April at Broadway Arsenal.