Leroy McGuirk [a former NCAA wrestling champion who was a promoter in Oklahoma] gave me an opportunity to make money.

"I won eight out of ten fights but never got paid," he said.Just a few months into his career, his people were in talks about a championship match with then-champion Floyd Patterson, showing how badly he was being rushed because he had a name from wrestling and the Olympics. To some, he's the Babe Ruth of his sport. Famed wrestler, boxer and Oklahoma native Danny Hodge gently demonstrates a winning move on Col. Allen Jamerson,72nd Air Base Wing and Tinker installation commander, during the champ’s visit to base Sept. 29. He took a savage beating from Nino Valdez, a one-time top heavyweight contender, just 13 months after his first amateur boxing match and never fought again. 'Watching Matt Hughes dominate the welterweight division for years as someone who largely relied on power wrestling always made those familiar with wrestling wonder: What if you took a guy with far more power, a higher level of wrestling technique, and throw in boxing ability and a guy who today would be a welterweight who had knockout power in the heavyweight division, and include submission ability?When Hodge graduated college, he felt compelled to make a living. Probably the most talked about names thrown out are Bruce Lee or a young Mike Tyson.But if you talk with anyone who has spent any time around the wrestling community – and that's both the college wrestling community and the entertainment-style pro community – one name always tops the list: Danny Hodge. "If he came along 50 years later, he'd be making millions.Make better choices. Some were a little longer, some were a little shorter. 7:37 pm . Even doing entertainment pro wrestling meant he could no longer compete in the sport he dominated. As chairman of the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission, he's overseen both UFC and Strikeforce events over the past year.He thought about how great it would have been if there were competitions with almost exactly the same rules back in the Fifties, but none existed.


"I was always in shape," Hodge said. A few years back, on live television at the NCAA tournament, this man who could be mistaken for anyone's grandfather grabbed an apple, squeezed, and easily turned it into apple sauce.In his prime, Hodge would go into hardware stores, ask for the sturdiest pair of pliers, squeeze, and snap the pliers in two. "Being in shape is one of the biggest advantages in sports. This dude just scored 2 takedowns in 15 seconds against David Taylor (also … After he finished wrestling in college, he turned to boxing. In one year, he went undefeated as an amateur, going 17-0 with 12 knockouts en route to winning the national Golden Gloves championship in Madison Square Garden when that was still a major sporting event.Hodge turned pro as a small heavyweight, although that made for a bitter experience. Get all the sports news you need, direct to your inbox.With mixed martial arts in North America being a relatively new sport, there is always speculation on how different people from the past would do if the sport was a lucrative endeavor in their lifetime. In my day, they were so strict I couldn't even let people buy me a meal. "He became one of the biggest names in the entertainment wrestling world during the 1960s, and was still a major star until having to retire in 1975 after breaking his neck in an automobile accident.Hodge knew submissions as well, but was best known for his supernatural grip strength.

Anyone know anything about his background as ive read a few stories and am intrigued by him - he has double tendons in his hands so apparently his grip strength is … Now we know why.Heat F Derrick Jones Jr. exits game on stretcher after running into hard screenHow will Russell Westbrook’s absence affect Rockets-Thunder series? "Things were different in those days," he said. he asks before answering himself. Jake Herbert is going to change the game. "Then I went into pro wrestling. Ive been looking around the net and one thing i seem to come across is Danny Hodge being wrestlings toughest man, even good ol' JR swears it bar none - Haku, Finlay, Angle & Race included. He even recalls seeing something approximating MMA on television more than 40 years ago. To be fair guys like Danny Hodge, Dan Gable and Lou Thesz had ridiculous grip strength so if they gave you a workers handshake it was a sign of good faith.