Boris Malenko
American professional wrestler (1933-1994)
Lawrence J. Simon (June 28, 1933 – September 1, 1994), better known by the ring name Boris Malenko (Russian: Бори́с Маленко́, IPA: [bɐˈrʲis mɐˈlʲenkə]), was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling trainer. He is best known for his appearances with Championship Wrestling from Florida and Big Time Wrestling in the 1960s and 1970s as a Russian heel. He was the father of professional wrestlers Joe and Dean Malenko.
Early life
Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey and raised in Irvington, New Jersey. As a teenager, Simon competed at amateur wrestling in YMCAs. Before becoming a professional wrestler, he worked as a truck driver in the Garment District in New York City.
Professional wrestling career
Simon made his professional debut in 1955 as "Larry Simon", wrestling in the Eastern United States. In 1957, he joined the Dallas, Texas-based promotion Big Time Wrestling under the ring name "Crusher Duggan", winning the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship later that year.
On July 19, 1961, Simon unsuccessfully challenged Buddy Rogers for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Jacksonville, Florida.
In September 1961, Simon joined in the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based American Wrestling Association.
The public source identifies “Boris Malenko” as american professional wrestler (1933-1994). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Boris, Malenko and American.
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This entry incorporates text from “Boris Malenko” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.