Olson is an "underrated" fighter. If SRR had not been around, Bobo could have been the top MW thru the early 50's, until Gene Fullmer emerged on the scene in 1957 or so. (he fought SRR 4 times, losing each fight). An overlooked "big fight", is when Kid Gavilan moved up as WW Champ to try to take Bobo's MW title. Olson handled Gavilan relatively easily. As MW Champ, he also moved up, and tried to take Archie Moore's title, in a rare MW vs LtHvy Champ shoot-out (Bobo lost).
Olson was a very good fighter. It was a bit of a suprise the way Robinson took his title back with ease. Sugar hadnt looked that good during his comeback. Back at that time champions didnt comeback and win their crowns back especially after so much time.
Olson did not handle Gavilan easily. It was extremely close. Both guys fought a similar fight plan and as a result they were neck and neck. The fight really turned on two things: 1. Gavilan went into the fight with an injured hand and fought most of the fight one handed. When it was discovered afterwards that he knew going in he was handicapped he was criticized for going ahead with the fight knowing he couldnt give the paying customers the performance they expected of him. 2. Olsons size, and more importantly his strength helped him immensely against the smaller Gavilan. Gavilan was a natural welterweight whereas Olson carried 175 pretty well. When he was interviewed by Peter Heller he stated that he felt very early into his career that 175 was his best weight and would have rather fought there but for his management. He said by the time he was champion he was killing himself to make 160. He may or may not have been right (he said a few crazy things in the unedited version of that interview) but Gavilan did weigh in almost five pounds lighter than Olson on a same day weigh in fully clothed. That being said Olson is underrated and outside of getting crushed by Moore his post prime run at LHW is pretty interesting and illustrative that the guy had skills.
I just go by the official scores. "The referee and one judge gave it to Olson by six and eight points, while the third official called it a draw. There were some who later swore they saw “Bobo” smile when the decision was announced." Fight overview: https://www.thefightcity.com/april-...-lamotta-johnny-bratton-archie-moore-chicago/
