74 years ago

Date: 26th October 1950

Venue: Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Title: Pennsylvania State World Middleweight Title

Promoter: Johnny Attell

Sugar Ray Robinson
( 114 - 1 - 2 )
Weight: 158 lbs

Carl Olson
( 41 - 3 - 0 )
Weight: 159 lbs

On Thursday 26th October 1950 Sugar Ray Robinson made the second defense of his Pennsylvania State World Middleweight Title. Robinson faced Carl "Bobo" Olson at Convention Hall, Philadelphia. The event was successfully orchestrated by promoter Johnny Attell, with Charley Daggert taking up the role of referee. At the time of the match, Robinson held an impressive record of 114-1-2, while Olson sported a strong record of 41-3-0.

The match itself was a highly-anticipated clash between Harlem, New York's Robinson, tipping the scales at 158 lbs, and Honolulu, Hawaii's Olson, weighing in at 159 lbs. This encounter was to be the first of four face-offs between Robinson and Olson, with Robinson securing victories in all of them. On this particular night, Robinson further asserted his dominance by scoring a knockout at 1:19 of the 12th round.

The fight was largely dominated by Robinson, as the judges' scores at the time of the stoppage highlighted. The referee Charley Daggert had Robinson ahead 9-1, while judges Frank Knaresborough and Harry Lasky scored it even more in Robinson's favor, at 10-1 and 10-0 respectively. Olson, despite his resilience, could not get the better of the seasoned Robinson.

Despite this defeat, Olson's boxing career was far from over. He went on to win the vacant world middleweight title against England's Randolph Turpin on the 21st of October 1953. Further, Olson tried his hand at the world light-heavyweight title, but came up short against Archie Moore in June 1955.

Olson also managed to make three successful defenses of his world middleweight title. His challengers were Kid Gavilan, Rocky Castellani, and Pierre Langlois. However, his reign was eventually ended by Robinson in a rematch in December 1955.

In 1950, Ray Robinson participated in 20 bouts from 30th January to Christmas Day (25th December). Among these was the final defense of his world welterweight title, which he won in a vacant title match against Tommy Bell in December 1946, in addition to three world middleweight title fights.