Akram Pahalwan

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Akram Pahalwan, also known as Iki Pehlwan, was born in 1933, in Lahore, (presently in Pakistan) was a well-known wrestler from Punjab and a part of the Bholu Brothers. He did extremely well in traditional Indian wrestling, Freestyle wrestling and boxing style wrestling. He fought most of his wrestling matches with foreign wrestlers in distant countries and also within Pakistan.

Akram initially wrestled in Lahore. He was a student of the legendary Gama Pahalwan of India and the son of Imam Baksh Pahalwan. He firstly wrestled Imam Baksh Ferozwala in Lahore. He defeated the Ferozwala Pahalwan in 90 seconds. Then later he defeated Jero Pahalwan, Sheeda Gujanwalia, Goma, Hamida Ghaia Wala, Suleman and Sheeda Popat in Lahore. Subsequently confronting other wrestlers of different cities of Pakistan. Akram consequently wrestled Siddique son of Goonga Pahalwan in Sialkot, he overcome Bakhshu Pahalwan in Jampur, Then he beats Mushtaq Pahalwan in Multan, Then he defeats Nazu Pahalwan in Bahawalpur, and then Gurda Pahalwan in Multan. He confronted the tremendous Bhola Gadi in Lahore. He fought Rustam-e-Multan, Zamman Khan in Karachi. After winning all these competitions Akram finally beats Chaudhry Afzal in Lahore in a great encounter. The former Governor of Pakistan, Malik Amir Muhammad Khan was the Chief Guest of this event. The deputy superintendent Ghulam Hussain Butt was the referee. Akram secured a stunning victory over Haji Afzal.

In 1953, Akram toured some African countries. East African public named him “The Lion” when he tackles eleven wrestlers simultaneously in Uganda. He also defeated the heavyweights of Kenya and Kampala during the same year. Akram defeated Mahindar Singh in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, after an interesting feud. Coincidentally, Mahindar Singh’s elder brother was the referee of that particular match between Akram Pahalwan and Mahindar Singh. Akram pins Mahindar thrice in only two minutes but the referee refused to accept the defeat of his younger brother. Consequently Akram got furious and overpowered Mahindar for the fourth time through a submission hold (in 3 minutes) that enforced Mahindar to accept defeat and signal his brother referee to stop the match. Akram has many victories on his record . However during the early 1950s, Akram defeated the former European Wrestling Champion, Bert Assirati.

In 1958, Akram was proclaimed the Champion of Malaya in Singapore when he defeated the wrestler Hari Ram (in 90 seconds). He received an expensive car as a reward for his achievements in Singapore.

Akram Pahalwan (left) with his brother Bholu Pahalwan during late 1960s. This snap is from the film Rustom-e-Hind[1].

In 1965 Akram defeated the famed Indian wrestler Hardam Singh at the National Stadium (Karachi) in 3rd round. Akram's previous record shows that he participated in around 280 major wrestling events during the 50's. Some of which remained alive in the memories of people who watched him wrestle for a long time.

Beside that he successfully overcome the likes of Emil Koroshenko, Baron Von Heczey, Bloorma, King Kong (Emile Czaja) and others. While during the 60’s Akram Pahalwan also remained a part of the Bholu BrothersTeam of wrestling. He competed in freestyle wrestling during the 1960's. In 1967 he toured UK. The Bholu Brothers were rated 10th in the 1968 Tag Team world ratings. [2] Some of the opponents of Akram during the 60's include King Kong Czaja, Tony Kontellis, Con Papalazarou, Shaikh Wadi Ayoub, Bert Assirati etc. The Pakistani sporting arenas were regularly packed with up to 60,000 fans.

In 1976, when the Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki fought with the boxing legend Muhammad Ali in a mixed martial-art match to a draw, the Bholu brothers, who claimed to be the world champions, slated Akram to fight Inoki. However on the day of this majestic Akram-Inoki wrestling match, Akram Pahalwan lost the match to Inoki, Inoki put a chicken wing armlock on Akram and Akram's arm literally broke under the submission hold. Due to losing this important bout to Antonio Inoki, Akram's status fell in his country and bought an end to his fabulous career and his image as a Lion.