Iska Khan v Jim Oliver (French Catch, 2/1/57)
This is the earliest of the French footage I've watched yet, and as is the case with much of the 50s stuff, it's difficult to believe it's the sort of thing that was actually happening in the 1950s. Some of this was sensational, namely the parts where they were just walloping fuck out each other. Khan was chopping Oliver in the neck and collar bone and throat and Oliver was punching and elbowing Khan in the face and liver. Khan's overhand chops were Hashimoto 30 years before Hashimoto and Oliver's forearms were right out the Big Japan meathead playbook. These were amazing strike exchanges, not just for the strikes and how good those looked, but the way they were all sold, the raggedness of everything, the way they made those exchanges look uncooperative, like things were on the verge of breaking down. That's not always easy to do when one guy is throwing big exaggerated Mongolian chops, but they absolutely nailed it. Some of the grappling wasn't quite as engaging as the best stuff I've seen so far, though it has to be said that Iska Khan made that nerve hold look lethal and if nothing else I appreciated how dogged he was in going back to it. It was also fun to see the babyface using that move and how the crowd popped big for it every time. Oliver's on-the-ropes selling was really awesome, eating those strikes and getting bounced around the ring, yet always retaining that sense of being able to land a killer blow at any point. And even if the finish wasn't a desperation shot it sure did look killer.
It's been a minute since I've watched any Franz van Buyten; a guy I really ought to do a proper deep dive on. Gastel is yet another one of these French guys I'd never seen nor heard of before but is apparently amazing and I love him like my own father already. All I can find on him is that he was known as The Bull of Batignolles, and to be honest what else do you really NEED to know? He must be in his 50s here, balding, stocky, lumpy, ugly. A real treasure. He reminded me a little of Dick Murdoch in the way he'd bump and sell, sometimes a wee bit cartoony, a wee bit stoogey, but at the same time he'd work a hold like a bastard and you knew underneath it all he could go. Plus he was a little Murdochian in the face, if Murdoch had a sloped forehead and a hairline that started halfway back. The early parts of this were about Gastel working the hell out of a top wrist lock. Van Buyten would try and shake him, try and rolling headscissor his way out, but Gastel was a pitbull and would yank him back into holds. Then when van Buyten did start making headway Gastel got to throwing potatoes. His punches weren't quite full punches, more like clubs with the wrist that were still close enough to punches that you question their legality. Well the punches to the face were that; the punches to the body were very definitely punches and van Buyten must've woken up bruised from hip to armpit. Van Buyten's comebacks were great and I loved the spot where he just leapt on Gastel's shoulders in the corner and unloaded with strikes. The longer it went the more the old battler struggled to keep up, while van Buyten looked like an absolute stud. I guess both these guys deserve the deep dive treatment.
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