A SCAFFOLDER from Little Lever has been crowned the middleweight world champion in catch wrestling.

Greg Crompton, 27, won the championship after beating grapplers from Sweden, Lithuania and Crewe at the Catch World Championships at Bolton Arena on Friday, November 2.

Catch wrestling is a classical form of the combat sport, in which competitors use submission moves to force their opponents to 'quit'.

Greg fought off competition from all over the world to secure the title belt, winning two matches and drawing his third bout to claim 1st place.

He was coached by Wigan wrestling trainer Roy Wood, who runs the world famous Snake Pit in Aspull.

He said: "I've been wrestling in the catch style for seven years and competed in freestyle wrestling for four years before that.

"Roy is perfect for me because his old school, no nonsense style suits me to the ground."

Greg said he prepared for the high intensity, five-minute bouts by undergoing a rigorous training regimen.

He said: "I had to lose 18lbs to make the middleweight category, which I did through strict dieting and a water cut. I also coach at a gym in Warrington. so it was pretty much a fulltime workout.

"But it was worth the effort. It's great as it will be in the history books and hopefully I will remain world champ for a long time as I am keen to defend it ever year."

Greg might be the catch wrestling world champion, but don't expect to see him following in the footsteps of other British wrestlers who have made their name stateside.

Lancashire wrestlers Davey 'Boy' Smith (a.k.a. British Bulldog) and Tommy Billington (Dynamite Kid) made themselves household names with their high profile success in the WWE, but Greg said the glitzy theatrics of the American scene is not for him.

He said: "Professional wrestling doesn't really appeal to me. I admire the athleticism needed to perform their stunts, but it's not for me."

So what's next for the Bolton's new world champion?

"There are no competitions till next year so till then I'm not sure, but I'll keep training as hard as I can and be ready for the challenge.

"Being world champ is great but I'm still a little sore. But I'm also very proud of my team mates - Wade Barrick, Sami Fletcher and Chareen Millward - as we won five of the titles up for grabs and we brought four of them back to Bolton", said Greg.

He added: "It was simply awesome. All the year of training fell into place and I performed to the best of my ability and it paid off."