Bob Olin

Robert Lous Olin (July 4, 1908 – December 16, 1956) was an American professional boxer who held the world light heavyweight title in 1934. A former New York Golden Gloves champion, Olin began boxing at the Educational Alliance on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and turned professional in 1929.

Olin won the New York State Athletic Commission world light heavyweight title by defeating Maxie Rosenbloom at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 1934. He lost the title to John Henry Lewis the following year and unsuccessfully challenged Lewis in a 1937 rematch. Trained by Ray Arcel and managed by Harold Scadron, Olin retired from boxing in 1939 with a record of 55 wins, 27 losses, and 4 draws. He later served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II and operated restaurants in New York City.

Early life and career Olin was born on July 4, 1908, to a Jewish family in New York's crowded Lower East Side, and raised in Brooklyn. Like several outstanding Jewish boxers of his era, he began boxing at the Lower East Side's Educational Alliance on East Broadway, a settlement house for Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. After graduating from Erasmus High, he attended Fordham Law School for two years while working as a messenger for a Wall Street brokerage office. Early in his boxing career, Olin continued to broker the sale of bonds as a side line.

Boxing as an amateur, Olin won the New York City Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight Open Championship in 1928. On March 24, 1928, he competed in the Inter-City Golden Gloves Competition in Chicago. He won all 35 of his amateur fights, as well as the New York Metropolitan Amateur Athletic Union title, and turned professional in 1929.

On June 3, 1930, Olin met Ralph Ficucello, a former 1929 New York Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion, at Queensboro Stadium in Queens, New York. Though outweighed by 12 pounds, Olin pulled off the victory of the fellow Golden Gloves champion in an eight-round points decision.

On October 22, 1930, Olin bested Willard Dix in a hard-fought ten round points decision at New York's Madison Square Garden. Olin floored Dix for a nine count in the fourth and ninth rounds. In the rough match, Olin was down for nine in the fourth himself.

Olin took a ten-round decision against Joe Banovic near the end of 1930 at Madison Square Garden. It was a dull, close, mauling bout with little boxing or long range blows, and the decision was unpopular with many fans, but Banovic was an accomplished opponent and the win helped pave Olin's path toward a light heavyweight championship attempt

On July 27, 1931, Olin defeated Al Gainer, a determined World Light Heavyweight Championship contender, in a ten-round bout at White City Stadium in New Haven, Connecticut. Gainer led in the early rounds, but Olin came through in the ninth and tenth to win the referee's decision. A light rain hampered the outdoor match in the fifth and sixth rounds. From his corner, trainer Ray Arcel assisted Olin in the strategically fought bout. Twelve days later in the tournament's second round on December 30, Olin won over Cylde Chastain in a ten-round split decision. Though many in the crowd believed Chastain had outboxed Olin in the opening rounds, Olin was awarded the decision due to his strong finish in the closing rounds. In his final round of the tournament, Olin lost a ten-round decision to Baxter Calmes on January 15, 1932.

Al Gainer handed Olin a disappointing loss in their third meeting on September 1, 1932, in a ten-round points decision at West Haven, Connecticut. Gainer gave Olin a "terrific battering during the last two rounds". Gainer was an aspiring Light Heavyweight Contender and a Connecticut State Light Heavyweight Champion with a strong punch and may have outpowered the lighter punching Olin this match. Regardless, Olin won in two of their four meetings and drew one. The battle was close until the ninth when a barrage of punches by Gainer left Olin nearly helpless, and with cuts below both eyes.

Olin took a six-round points decision on October 9, 1933, at Madison Square Garden against Black boxer Ed "Unknown" Winston. A right cross to the head sent Winston to the deck for a no count in the first, and he connected with fewer punches than he received in the rough rounds that followed.

On November 17, 1933, Olin just managed to win the decision in a hard-fought eight round bout with Charley Massera at Madison Square Garden. There were no knockdowns in the close match, but the close victory bolstered Olin's confidence after he failed to win the NBA Light Heavyweight Tournament.

Olin lost to Lou Brouillard, former National Boxing Association World Welterweight Champion, on January 19, 1934, in a ten-round split decision in New York's Madison Square Garden. Broulliard had lost his World Welterweight Title only a few months before meeting Olin, yet a depression era crowd of only 4,000 saw the bout at the Garden. Brouillard lost the second and fourth rounds from low blow fouls, but in the remaining rounds, he took the offensive and Olin had to hold or back away at times to remain in the fight. Late in the eighth, Olin scored with a few smashes to the head of Brouillard that only made Brouillard's fight harder in the following round. In the ninth, Olin was nearly doubled over from Brouilard's powerful blows to the body. In the close decision, Judge Jack Britton, former Welterweight Champion, dissented from the other judge and referee, and cast the only score sheet for Olin. On April 5, Olin lost to Brouillard for a final time in a ten-round points decision at the Arena in New Haven, Connecticut.

World Light Heavy title, 1934 On November 16, 1934, he won the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC's) World Light Heavyweight championship in a listless, fifteen-round match before a modest crowd of 7300 from Maxie Rosenbloom at New York's famed Madison Square Garden. After fifteen dull rounds, Olin won the decision to an opponent who many ringside believed was totally disinterested in maintaining his title. The United Press added to the dissent from the boxing public by going against the official ruling, giving ten rounds to Rosenbloom, only four to Olin, with one even. The dullness of the bout caused some fans to suspect a fix, but the suspicion was never proven.

Following his title loss to Lewis, Olin lost to French boxer Al McCoy on December 10, 1935, in a crushing ten round points decision at the Forum in Montreal, Canada. Olin suffered severely at the hands of McCoy, with a barrage of blows to the body and head. He performed well in the opening rounds, but by the final two, he was reeling about the ring, and nearly out on his feet from the brutal attack of McCoy.

In one of his better late career matches as a fringe Heavyweight contender on April 2, 1936, Olin lost to Tommy Farr at Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, England in a fifteen-round points decision. His manager, and many in the crowd protested the decision, as Olin had knocked Farr to the mat twice for counts.

On January 15, 1937, Olin lost to black boxer Tiger Fox, Spokane native, in a second-round TKO at the Armory in Spokane, Washington. Olin took vicious blows to his head in the two round bout, and received a deep gash under his right eye, later requiring six stitches to close. This bruising defeat, his previous defeat to Canadian Al McCoy, and the bruising knockdowns he would suffer in his crushing rematch with Lewis the following June, likely accelerated his retirement from the ring, and robbed him of his ability to cope with top contenders.

Attempt to regain title, 1937 In a rematch for the title with Lewis on June 3, 1937, Olin failed to regain the title, losing in an eighth-round TKO, before another small crowd of 12,000. Probably showing the wear of his years in the ring, he appeared more sluggish and lacked the speed he had shown in their former meeting. Suffering a broken rib on his left side early in the second round, Olin could not maintain his defense. He was on the mat for a count of nine from a right to the body in the fourth. In the sixth, Olin started the round with a few blows that had little effect on his opponent. In the eighth, Lewis put Olin to the floor again with blows to his ribs for a count of seven before he could rise and resume the match. Immediately after a right hand sent Olin to the floor again, the referee raised the hand of Lewis to end the fight. Olin received only $3,000 for his efforts, but was compensated an additional $1,800 by Lewis, who had promised him the rematch after their previous title fight.

Declining boxing years Olin won a decisive victory over Patsy Perroni on September 13, 1937, in a third-round technical knockout at the Convention Hall in Toldedo, Ohio. A sweeping left from Olin broke Perroni's jaw early in the third, and he was unable to resume the fight at the fourth round bell. It was the first knockout of Perroni's career.

On September 28, 1937, Olin lost a sixth-round TKO to Leroy Haynes at Convention Hall in Philadelphia due to a cut eye which was bleeding. The contest was a semi-final bout before a crowd of 9,000. In frustration with the ruling to end the hard-fought bout, and perhaps sensing the end of his boxing career from his recent losses, in an atypical breach of boxing etiquette Olin struggled with the referee to change the ruling. Olin's handlers were required to step in and separate the two men. His boxing record would make a distinct downturn after this bout, losing five of his remaining seven bouts.

Before a crowd of 4,200, on November 17, 1937, Olin lost to Johnny Risko, a respected heavyweight contender, in a ten-round points decision that showcased Risko's command of infighting. Risko was on the comeback trail after two years away from the ring, and was eager to demonstrate his dominance over the former champion. He effectively blocked the blows of Olin, who was beginning to show wear from several recent losses. The Associated Press gave Risko seven of the ten rounds with Olin taking the sixth and seventh, and the fourth remaining even.

Later life After eleven years of boxing, Olin retired from the ring in 1939, never attempting a comeback. In 1942, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and served in WWII. After returning from his service, he resumed his prior career working for a Wall Street brokerage.

Olin opened up his own restaurant in 1946 at 128 West 58th Street in New York but had to close it and another restaurant for lack of business. He gained far greater success and a bit of local fame when he moved his restaurant to Central Park West and 61st Street and renamed it "Bob Olin's on the Park".

In 1951, he was diagnosed with a heart ailment, and hospitalized once in his mid-40s. On December 16, 1956, at age 48, he died of a heart attack while driving a date to her home in the Bronx. He was married once and divorced, but left no children.

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing Major world titles NYSAC light heavyweight champion (175 lbs) NBA (WBA) light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)

The Ring magazine titles The Ring light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)

Undisputed titles Undisputed light heavyweight champion