![]() ![]() And she's as good a boxer as I've ever seen." "She's too well-trained and conditioned to get hurt in there," Ramirez says. She had the technique, the footwork, the tenacity, that he hadn't seen before. ![]() "They looked pretty when they go in the ring," he says, "but they looked like hell when they came out. Ramirez didn't think much of women boxers at first. She couldn't stay away, returning after six months off, when Ramirez agreed to take her on in 2001. "It's so hard, so political, and I was scared of the success," says Olson. Her record quickly went to 3-0, including a high-profile bout against Michelle Vidales (141 pounds) at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, but Olson had become disenchanted with the game. With her father and Bobo - by then ailing with the Alzheimer's disease that would contribute to his death - in her corner, Olson won a split decision over Debbie Foster of Bakersfield. Olson's pro boxing debut came on March 3, 2000, at Feather Falls Casino in Oroville (Butte County). She quit her job, relocated to Los Angeles and convinced famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach, who previously had coached the respected Lucia Rijker, to work with her. "I said to my dad, 'I know I can do that,' " Olson recalls. Years later, when Eliza was 24 and disenchanted with her plumbing career and her direction in life, she watchedįighting on ESPN. "After that, we'd never see those boys again," Carl says with a laugh. "She'd really make that speed bag sing," Carl recalls, remembering his daughter whipping the elusive bag so hard and fast it would cause neighbors to stop and point at the pretty girl with the dark braids and the fists. "They don't know how to hit the speed bag, Dad," Eliza would whisper. The boys would take swings at the equipment in vain, and the snickering girls would run to their father. "I taught them how to box, how to move, how to throw a punch," said Carl, who hung a heavy bag and speed bag in the family's garage in Redwood City and instructed his girls how to work both.Īs teens, Eliza and Sarah, 2 1/2 years younger, would bring their boyfriends to the house, where everyone was drawn to the makeshift gym. Carl didn't actively pursue boxing, but he made sure his two daughters, Eliza and Sarah, knew how to defend themselves. "Plus, she's a damn good boxer."Īs a young girl, Eliza devoured grainy film of Bobo in the ring, and she embraced the boxing talk that dominated her household. "She's as determined as anyone I've ever seen," said Ramirez, a Golden Gloves trainer. But she's so dedicated to making a difference in boxing," said her father, Carl Jr., who acts as her manager. "I hate to see her go through these hard times. Olson awakens at 4:30 a.m., trains until her classes begin mid-morning, then returns to Gladiators for four or five hours each afternoon. Is this Eliza? The tenacious legacy is there, all right. Olson goes back another generation, taking her cue from her grandfather, former world middleweight champion Carl "Bobo" Olson - "The Hawaiian Swede."Ī long-running middleweight and light heavyweight staple in the 1950s, Olson was a 5-10 scrapper who fought Sugar Ray Robinson four times, losing each time. Laila Ali, Jacqui Frazier, Freeda Foreman followed their famous fathers into the ring. She is 28 years old, a onetime soccer and softball standout at Capuchino High in San Bruno, an apprentice plumber and a student at Cañada College. "The way I'm fighting right now is really dangerous for my career," says Olson, working as many as eight hours a day to whittle away the four pounds she gained to battle former kickboxer Sunshine Fettkether in a 147-pound welterweight bout last month in Louisiana. She fights on demand, far from home, often against much bigger opponents who force her to pack pounds on her taut 5-foot-5 frame. With a record of 7-2-2 with two KOs in the ring, Olson also is a professional opponent. "It's like this a lot," Olson says, "this last-minute kind of life. Who knows when this fight will come off, or if it ever will. A flood in south Florida has put the venue out of commission twice now. It's a $3,000 payday that will cover the rent and expenses.įor two weeks in a row, Olson's adviser/matchmaker in Philadelphia, John Beninati, has had no answers. The phone call she's waiting for, telling Olson to grab her bags and get to the airport for a badly needed bout this weekend in West Palm Beach, Fla., still hasn't come. She's honed and hungry, with a boxing legacy to fulfill. "Am I going to class tomorrow? Am I getting on a plane tomorrow morning or not?" "Should I eat today, or hold off?" Olson wonders, stopping to re-tape her gloves. It might have the answers to some important questions. So the cell phone is never far from Eliza Olson's side.
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