[2] Born in Ridgeway, Wisconsin,[3] of Welsh descent,[4] Lewis began wrestling professionally winning a 64-man tournament in Montana in May 1882.

Moving to Madison in 1885, he later defeated several international wrestlers, including Andre Christol, Tom Cannon, and Matsuda Sorakichi.

After defending the title for over eight years, Lewis lost the American Heavyweight Championship to Martin Burns, whom he had previously defeated in his debut match in 1886.

[8][9] In Chicago on June 20, 1898, Lewis faced Yusuf İsmail, a 300 lb wrestler known as the Terrible Turk, with a claimed record of 115 wins and no losses across Europe.

The match took place in front of a reported audience of 10,000, for a purse of $3,500 and the “championship of the world”, and the strangehold was barred.