Last Men Standing (diary entry)

23.02.2022 Wednesday second lesson was “Learn from the Fight” where we cast the spotlight on Bobo Olson. Olson was a figure in the background just as Sugar Ray Robinson made his campaign for Middleweight dominance. Bobo fought in an era of true greats in his weight division but also upheaval. Bobo Olson versus Dave Sands Carl “Bobo” Olson (aka “The Hawaiian Swede” and “The Kalihi Kid”) was born in Kalihi, Honolulu, Hawaiian territory, on 11th July 1928 to a Portuguese mother and a Swedish father. It was speculated that Olson’s phenomenal strength was a genetic inheritance from his 6’8”maternal grandfather. He acquired the Bobo nickname from his younger sister who couldn’t pronounce “brother”. His parents separated when he was 12 and he left school when was 13. Kalihi, being an exceptionally rough neighbourhood, provided Olson early opportunities to test his freakish strength in regular street fights.  He soon learned he could make money from such bouts, especially if he took on grown men. These fights were organised in chicken coups and his opposition was mainly GIs stationed in Hawaii during World War 2. It was during these fights that he was talent-spotted by San Francisco boxing manager Sergeant Sid Flaherty. Flaherty described Olson as “tough and tireless with a solid chin”. Flaherty had been given the task of arranging boxing for military at Hickam Field and was scouting for talent when he saw the now 15 year old Olson at work. “What I liked most about the kid was his eye,” Flaherty said. “He had the wonderful alertness to see a punch coming his way and to avoid it.” Fighting amongst the GIs was also here that he got his two trademark upper arm/shoulder tattoos, which was something fairly rare in boxers at the time. Possessing “man strength”, Olson knew he could compete as a professional despite his age. He shaved his chest in the hope his hair grow back thicker. In the end he used a fake identity card to obtain a professional boxing licence when he was just 16 and won his first three contests, one by knockout, before this was discovered in 1944. The following year he ran off to California, taking Flaherty up on his offer, winning eight fights in that state, seven in San Francisco where he was living and one in Sacramento. All but one of these fights came via stoppage. The Californian state authorities eventually discovered his age revoked his licence and sent him home. He was apparently homesick too and enjoyed the Hawaiian life of swimming in the surf, spear-fishing and horse-riding. He also had a girlfriend, Helen Dolores Cavaco, a circus aerial artiste from the E.K. Fernandez Circus who helped support them. They married aged 17. Years later, when Olson was at the height of his fortune and fame, Helen was asked whether she knew Bobo when he was in rags and not riches – possibly insinuating she was something of a gold-digger - to which Helen replied “I knew him when he was very poor, I used to give him spending money when I was working as an acrobat in a circus.” Upon returning to Honolulu, he won 10 more fights before challenging Georgie Duke for the Hawaii Middleweight title. Duke handed Olson his first loss by outpointing him. Olson then re-challenged Duke and took the state title before losing it to Boy Brooks in his first title defence. After a match with Nai Som Pong in Manila, Philippines, he fought Brooks again for the title also in Manila. This time he won back the title and took another non-title fight in Manila where he knocked out Flashy Sebastian. Olson then returned to Hawaii for 13 straight victories, including a third round stoppage in his rubber match with Brooks. With a 38-2 record, he travelled to Sydney, Australia to face Dave Sands. Born David Ritchie, Sands was an indigenous Australian boxer born at Burnt Bridge Mission Kempsey, New South Wales on 4th February 1926. He was the fifth of eight children. His five brothers also took up boxing, inspired by their father and their maternal great-uncle, Bailey Russell a renowned bare-knuckle pugilist. He travelled with his brother Percy, by train, to Tom McGuire’s Gym in Newcastle, New South Wales. They both adopted the surname of Sands after a train guard called “Snowy” Sands who allowed the brothers to travel fare free. In 1941 Sands debuted in a preliminary bout, gaining a first round knockout over Leo Con Corrigan. This fight had been undertaken without Maguire’s knowledge. His trainer-turned-manager disapproved but still continued training him, refining the crude swinging style he had used to win. By 1945, aged 19, he fought for and won the New South Wales Middleweight title. The following year he won and defended both the Australian Middleweight and Heavyweight titles, stopping Jack Kirkham and Jack Johnson twice respectively. The fights had been totally one-sided and decisive. By 1949 it was decided he should campaign for the world title. He travelled to the UK where he initially lost on points to Tommy Yarosz, largely due to a swollen vaccinated arm. Then he began winning and gaining more respect in England. In the same year he decisively outpointed the great French middleweight Robert Villemain and then knocked out Dick Turpin in 2 minutes 35 seconds of the first round, winning the British Empire Middleweight title. He then returned to Australia and survived a serious car accident. Olson and Sands’ first contest was on 20th March 1950. It was one of nine victories Sands won over an 18 month period since his return. However, it was noted as a very close decision. Others have contested this by pointing out that Sands knocked Olson down in round one and then carried him for the rest of the fight. Apparently this was a trait he often did not scare off the competition. Olson won his next three fights in Hawaii, including stopping Roy Miller by breaking his jaw. He then challenged Sugar Ray Robinson for the Pennsylvanian Middleweight title that same year. Robinson was now campaigning for his shot at the middleweight crown. Their fight was not viewed as a good contest for either of the fighters. Robinson didn’t put in his best performance and neither did Olson who struggled to get into the fight. Olson suffered his first knockout in round 12. Olson’s next five fights were all straight wins, including two stoppages. He was then matched against Sands again, this time in Chicago. Bobo Olson stood at 5’10½” with a 70” reach.  He was an aggressive slugger who developed into a skilled fighter under Flaherty’s tutelage. His footwork developed when fighting much larger opponents as a child was accompanied by powerful body-shots taught to him by Flaherty. He was known as a slow starter and had a very resilient chin. Dave Sands also stood at 5’10½” with 71½” reach. He was also a ferocious slugger with a lot of skill that he learnt under Maguire to the point where I would argue he was almost a boxer-puncher. This led him to be described as the “boxer with the educated left hand”. Their styles contrasted in that Sands preferred to counter-punch and Olson preferred to bore into his opponents. On paper the two look very well matched, both coming in at exactly 160lbs (the middleweight limit). By this time Sugar Ray Robinson won the World Middleweight title and it was declared the winner of this contest would face him. This would turn out to be a false promise. The fight was a series of highlights from their 10-round contest. In round one Sands came out from long range making good use of his lead hand. He set up a good rear uppercut with his jab. We then progressed onto seeing some fast exchanges from both at mid-range. Sands clearly did not want to continue in the clinch as Olson bore down on him and after brief exchanges would make it clear the referee needed to break. Other times he just pushed Olson back. Olson kept a high guard when at mid-range trying to walk his opponent down. Sands caused him to miss and one point this almost resulted in Olson going through the ropes. Sands worked to keep the fight at long range, taking the slight advantage offered by his reach and also his better trained lead hand. He kept setting Olson up with his jab/uppercut combination as well as timing well-placed lead uppercuts, hooks and straight rights. Olson, being the known slow starter, just seemed to absorb and march forward. Olson scored with a few light left hooks that Sands rolled with but for the most part was missing whilst Sands demonstrated. Sands finished the round with an easy win. Rounds 2-4 saw Sands continue to dictate fight scoring effectively both offensively and with his counter-punching. In round five, which we watched, it just looked like much of the same with Sands totally outclassing Olson with his angled footwork and clean exchanges before swiftly exiting clinches. By round 9 it was clearly that Sands was very much in the lead and Olson could barely touch him. The round began with Sands now taking the fight to Olson. Olson showed action whenever the mid to close range ground was given, able to hold his own and trade hooks. However, Sands still looked very much in control, delivering powerful lead and rear hand uppercuts at this range before moving to the longer range where he completely dictated the fight. As the round progressed, Sands pushed the fight showing more action at closer range with shoulder bumps and the sort of body shots that Olson was known for. He seemed to remove any hope of Olson getting anything but a straight puncher’s chance of winning. Sands completely controlled the range by the end of the round. Round 10 was arguably Olson’s best round, but this seemed to be down to Sands deciding he would give him a chance and fight in the trenches. Nevertheless, by the time the bell went Sands was standing and rightly confident he had won a unanimous decision. Sands went on to win the Australian Heavyweight Championship that year from Alf Gallagher. Sands’s manager tried hard to negotiate a deal to get a world title shot in 1951, but despite defeating a top contender, Mel Brown, Randolph Turpin got the fight instead. Sands became estranged from his manager/trainer after he couldn’t secure a world title deal and got a new manager in the form of Bede Kerr. Kerr didn’t have any more luck with Robinson’s management. On 11th August 1952 Sands overturned a truck he was driving, containing 15 passengers, and died from head and internal injuries incurred. All Sands’ earnings, it appeared had been absorbed by manager’s fees, travel costs, tax, his family and extended family, resulting in a public appeal needed to pay off his home and to create a trust fund for his family. He was one of three Australians to possess three national titles at the same time. He also won an Australasian and a British Empire title. Sands’ record was 97 wins from 110 matches. 62 of these matches were by KO. A match up with Sugar Ray Robinson has long been considered to be one of the dream fights that never happened just as Sands is regarded as one of the greatest middleweights never to fight for a world title. He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998. Bobo Olson won two matches against journeymen followed his defeat by Sands. He was then given the opportunity Sands had been denied: a crack at the World Middleweight title and the great Sugar Ray Robinson. This time Robinson did not knock Olson out but won a unanimous decision all the same. After nine straight wins he challenged for the American Middleweight Championship, which he won off Paddy Young. He then went for the man who had almost been matched with Sands and had won one a piece with Robinson, the second man to ever beat him, Randolph Turpin. Robinson had retired in 1952 to pursue a career in dancing. Now the World Middleweight title was vacant and up for grabs. Olson and Turpin were the last two men standing. Randolph Turpin versus Bobo Olson Undisputed World Middleweight Championship 21.10.1953 Following his loss in his rematch with Sugar Ray Robinson, Randolph Turpin had won eight matches. He had collected vacant Commonwealth and British Light-Heavyweight titles as well as the vacant Commonwealth Middleweight title and taken the European Boxing Union title. This last fight had been against reigning EBU champion Don Cockell a future Rocky Marciano opponent. In 1952 Turpin had expressed a desire to retire from fighting within a year or two in an interview he gave to a national magazine. He intended to start a business teaching youngsters to box at Gwrych Castle. Turpin got his divorce from Mary Stack after an unhappy marriage that had seen Turpin fail to commit suicide and Stack accuse him of physically abusing her in court in 1948. She withdrew charges against him and Turpin denied all of them save for slapping her once across the face. They had married when they had both been teenagers and had a son, Randolph Jnr who Turpin became estranged from. Arguments had begun when Stack first begun accusing Turpin of adultery. She seemed to have had a fair point on that side of things if nothing else. When Turpin first fought in New York in his rematch, a failed title defence against Sugar Ray Robinson, he began an affair with Adele Daniels. His manager, George Middleton, had warned Turpin about the relationship and the trouble Daniels would bring to the training camp. Turpin was smitten and told Daniels everything about his upcoming divorce with Stack as well as what he had been accused of in court. Turpin promised to marry Daniels and take her back to England. This did not happen. When he returned to New York to fight Olson for the vacant World Middleweight Championship, Daniels was waiting in New York (she worked in Harlem). According to some reports, he briefly rekindled his relationship with her. However, before long Daniels was turning up at the hotel where Turpin was staying and created large public spectacles. Turpin wouldn’t allow the press to watch him train for fear of Daniels turning up. The rumours flew that he was simply hiding out in his training camp to keep away from her. Reports came in that he didn’t have his mind on the fight and even told people that he might forget the whole thing and fly home. He struggled to make the weight and it was rumoured he has only fought a total of 30 rounds in the lead up to the fight, all of them with his featherweight brother, Jackie. A few weeks prior to the fight, Daniels accused Turpin of assault. Bobo Olson didn’t believe a word of the news and thought it is all a ruse to get him to lower his guard. He believed Turpin to be in excellent shape and, on that basis, said he trained twice as hard for any fight. Rounds 1-3: Turpin took charge of the fight, dictating the pace. Round 4: Olson opened up a cut on Turpin’s cheek. Olson took the advantage and the round. Round 9: Turpin began to turn things around by landing a few good punches. However, just when matters appeared to be going his way, he missed with a big left hook. He tried to back it up with a right, but Olson beat him to the punch with a sharp left hook. Turpin was then driven into the ropes and Olson’s happiest territory. From here the American Middleweight champion pummelled in six heavy unanswered punches. Turpin got off the ropes and attempted to land another big right to no avail. Olson was straight back on him and repeated his assault on the ropes this time sending Turpin down for count. Turpin just beat the count before the bell went. Round 10: Again Olson took the initiative with a left hook and sent Turpin down for another count off the ropes. Turpin beat the count and bravely fought on with the remainder of the round. Round 11: Turpin hit the ropes again after taking a double-jab from Olson, clearly putting in one of his best performances and showing some development since the match with Sands two years ago. Olson then hurts his opponent with a body shot and Turpin demonstrated amazing fortitude in staying upright for the rest of this round and through round 12. Round 13: This proves to be one of Turpin’s best since round three. He did well to avoid further damage and began landing some more serious punches, but it all feels a bit late in the game. Nevertheless, from here on in he decided to go for broke. Round 15: Turpin shows his complete desperation but fails to land the big punch he needs. The bloodied former world champion is clearly the loser of this contest. Turpin was accused of rape by Daniels but she dropped the charges and then sued for $100,000 in damages. An out of court settlement was agreed on in 1955. Turpin fell out with his brother, Dick, who blamed him for telling Daniels about the problems Randy had had with his wife. After the Olson fight, he never challenged for a world title again. He lost his EBU Middleweight crown to Tiberio Mitri after being knocked out in the first round in 1954, but would win the British and Commonwealth Light-Heavyweight titles in 1955 after knocking out Alex Buxton in the second round. He lost non-title bouts to Gordon Wallace and Hans Stretz, the former being yet another knockout. He successfully defended the British Light-Heavyweight title against Arthur Howard. Turpin won eight of his last nine fights. His loss was a second round knockout to Yolande Pompey. After retiring from boxing in 1963 with a record of 66-8-1 (44 knockouts), Turpin engaged in boxing versus wrestling spectacles that were probably worked. He didn’t have much money having ignored a lot of advice to invest and have money to fall back on. A hotel he bought with an untrustworthy partner had drained most his financial resources. He was also hit by a tax bill of £100,000 which was reduced to £17,126 following an emotional plea by his solicitor. Unfortunately Turpin had only £1,204 left in assets by 1962 and was declared bankrupt before his boxing career was even over. He was discharged from bankruptcy in 1965 having paid two pounds a week towards his debt. With all his building and business investments gone, besides the small transport café where he lived, Turpin found work in a scrapyard before he began wrestling. At first he made £100 per bout for the novelty boxer versus wrestler matches, but eventually he just did wrestling and only £25. He didn’t keep good accounts and when he was hit with an £800 bill from HMRC he claimed that he had spent all his wages whilst on the wrestling tour with his new friends. In 1966 he was not only faced with the prospect of going bankrupt again but the council were going to proceed with the compulsory purchase of his café in order to build a car park. He was now estranged from all his family since they fell out with his second wife, Gwyneth, and his doctor declared him to be punch-drunk due to his time spent in the ring. His behaviour at this stage was reported to morose and he declined to talk about his boxing days, believing he had been exploited by everyone. On 17th May 1966 he was found dead with a gunshot wound to the skull and a fatal one to the heart at the transport café with one of his daughters, 17 month old Carmen also wounded. She made a complete recovery. Turpin’s death was ruled a suicide. However, his family believed it had been a mob killing based on the fact that he had left a letter in 1964 claiming he had been receiving death threats for huge sums of money owed to certain gangsters. The fact that all accounts had it he had been a doting father to his four daughters also made the family sceptical about Turpin being responsible for injuring Carmen. Upon winning the fight, Olson declared “if Dave Sands was alive, this title would be his”. DON'T MISS THESE SEMINARS! BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY!

  https://clubbchimera.com/services/