[6] He joined the San Francisco YMCA and quickly became one of the top amateur wrestlers on the West Coast, winning AAU and regional championships.

During a 1928 trip to Greece, the first time he had been there in 18 years, he saw how much faith his country men and women had in him, and vowed to win the world title for them and for his father.

[9] After a series of inter-promotional fights, Londos squared off again with Shikat for a version of the world championship on July 3, 1930 in Philadelphia under the promotion of Ray Fabiani.

Londos won the match and altered the standard of a wrestling champion, defending his title 120-130 times a year before the largest crowds the sport had ever seen.

Promoters ran just three shows in Madison Square Garden in the 20 months prior to Londos' championship win, averaging less than 3,200 fans.

Londos also was the victim of a double-cross in a 1933 match with Joe Savoldi that cost him his championship claim in some jurisdictions when a referee counted him down even though his shoulder was off the mat.

Londos regained near-universal recognition as world champion in 1934 when he defeated Jim Browning at the Madison Square Garden Bowl on June 25.

[12] Mainstream coverage of wrestling suffered because of the sport's shift to more gimmicky styles and a double-cross Shikat pulled on O'Mahoney in 1936, which exposed unseemly inner workings of the business to the public.

He traveled to Greece a final time in September 1956 and concluded his career with a charity tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1959 where his opponents included Stan Kowalski.

[1] Londos is considered one of the most influential wrestlers in history because of he way he injected mild showmanship into the sport and attracted record numbers of ethnic and female fans.