Acton began wrestling in his native Great Britain during the 1870s defeating Tom Cannon to become the first World Catch-as-Catch-Can Heavyweight Champion on 12 December 1881.

He toured the United States that same year facing several prominent wrestlers including Edwin Bibby,[2] Arkansas Heavyweight Champion Clarence Whistler,[3] and Matsada Sorakichi[4] as well as several rematches against Tom Cannon and was widely regarded as the best wrestler in America by 1887, although he lost the American "Catch-as-Catch-can" Championship bout to Evan "Strangler" Lewis on 14 March 1887 in one of the biggest matches of the decade.

[5] Acton would also face Australian bare-knuckle boxer William Miller in a series of wrestling matches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between March and July 1888[6] as well as Bob Fitzsimmons in 1891.

[7][8] Although retiring close to the turn of the century, he did agree to several exhibition matches while a student instructor at Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Oregon.

Although he had previous experience in jujitsu-style fighting having faced British judoka Yukio Tanai in 1904, he lost to Ito in two bouts, in three and two minutes respectively.