The Great Middleweight Champion That Time and The Fans Forgot

By John Hively

In 1940, world middleweight title claimant Ken Overlin soared above his contemporaries like a majestic bald eagle circling high above his potential prey scattered about in the fields and streams far below; and then like a poachers gun blast tragically bringing an end to the spectacular flight of the great bird of prey, a cataclysmic event cut short the career of the great champion while he was at the zenith of his abilities.

When it comes to Overlin, perhaps the important questions for fight fans less than seventy years of age are, “You sure he was a champion?” “How come I never heard of him?” “How great could he be if I never heard of him?”

The answer to these questions is that Overlin was one hell of a fighter, and yes, he was the holder of a title.

Ken was born in 1910 in Decatur, Illinois. His parents were pure Irish. During the late 1920s, the young man joined the U.S. navy and was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. It was there that Chris Dundee, the older brother of Angelo, discovered that the Irishman could fight using his brawn and his mitts, as well as his head. Under Dundee’s management, the future middleweight champion launched his professional boxing career in 1932, the year after Mickey Walker had abdicated the middleweight throne.

Overlin developed into a great boxer in an era of great middleweights. During the years 1937-44, several future Hall of Fame pugilists vied for supremacy in the division: Fred Apostoli, Jimmy Bivins, Charley Burley, Ezzard Charles, Billy Conn, Jake La Motta, Archie Moore, Tony Zale and Freddie Steele. Holman Williams, rated in the Ring Magazine’s top thirty middleweight’s of all time, also fought in the division during these years.

Outstanding boxers such as Lou Brouillard, Lloyd Marshall, Erich Seelig, Ben Brown, Cerferino Garcia, Georgie Abrams, Kid Tunero, Louis Kid Cocoa, Billy Soose and Teddy Yarosz confirmed in the squared circle that they too were as talented as any of their Hall of Fame contemporaries. And so too did Ken Overlin.

In 1938, Meyer Ackerman of the Ring magazine described Overlin’s style as “slapping and cuffing,” with lots of “ring generalship.” A New York Times reporter likened his style to Harry Greb, the great whirlwind of the previous decade, except that Overlin lacked Greb’s stamina. But Ken’s skills were much more than what we can envision from these simple descriptions. The son of Ireland was an excellent boxer when he wanted to be, knew how to use the ring, had a highly educated jab, and he was excessively crafty.

With only twenty-three knockouts in 143 bouts, he didn’t possess a whole lot of sleep inducing dynamite in either of his gloves, and so maybe he found it necessary to box rather than fight. But when he felt like it, he could and did fight aggressively. Despite the lack of heavy artillery in either of his fists, during his career Overlin won 127 fights, lost only thirteen, battled to seven draws, and fought one no contest. Ken reached his peak from 1939 to 1942. The son of Ireland lost only three of fifty-one battles during these years, and two of them were shameful robberies.

The abdication of Walker as king of the middleweights left the division’s top spot splintered for ten long years. William “Gorilla” Jones won the National Boxing Association (NBA) version of the title in 1931. Meanwhile, Ben Jeby earned recognition as champion from the influential New York State Boxing Commission in 1932. From 1932 to 1941, the two titles were tossed about amongst Jones, Jeby, Dundee, Yarosz, Steele, Apostoli, Overlin, Soose, Zale, Marcel Thil, Babe Risko, Cerferino Garcia, Al Hostak and Solly Kreiger.

As the titles changed hands, Overlin learned the ins and outs of his craft. In 1932, Overlin won nine of ten bouts. His only loss was to the highly talented and far more experienced Vince Dundee, who went on to win a portion of the title the following year. He defeated twenty-six straight opponents from 1933 to 1934. Contender Paul Pirrone ended the streak with a ten round decision in Philedelphia. Three months later, the Irishman turned the tables on his adversary with a decision win, establishing himself as a bona fide contender. After a loss to dangerous Jimmy Smith, Overlin pieced together thirty-one consecutive wins. Included among his victims were experienced boxers such as Joe Smallwood, Carmen Barth and Ralph Chong. Former champion Teddy Yarosz broke the new streak in ten closely contested rounds. Afterwards, Overlin rebounded to trounce Ben Brown in ten rounds, but then Kid Tunero handed him a ten round decision loss.

In January 1937, in New York City, the Irishman battled another young contender, Fred Apostoli, a future member of the Hall of Fame who entered the clash with a record of twenty wins and one defeat. Overlin carried the early rounds, but then Fred mounted a furious comeback and seemingly tightened the score. However, two judges scored it eight rounds for Ken and two for Fred, while the referee called it even. A New York Times correspondent scored it five rounds for Apostoli, four for Overlin, with one drawn. Some spectators in the crowd booed the decision, but Meyer Ackerman later wrote that Overlin had won a “sensational decision,” and that he had “displayed potential championship caliber.”

After two more wins, Ken was rewarded for his efforts with a shot at Freddie Steele, then recognized by the state of New York and the NBA as the world champion. The title was still divided because Marcel Thil was acknowledged in Europe as being the world champion.

In July 1936, the sensational Steele had claimed the middleweight championships by beating Babe Risko. He defended the title three times before meeting Overlin, scoring wins against Risko W 15, Gorilla Jones W 15, and Frankie Battaglia KO 3. Among others, the new champ also scored non-title wins against future light heavyweight champion Gus Lesnevich KO 2, as well as Overlin’s old nemesis Paul Pirrone KO 1. Possessing bone crunching punching power, good boxing abilities, and some ring savvy, Steele was in his prime.

For the first three rounds, Overlin aggressively attacked the champion, and it was difficult to determine who had the edge. Unfortunately, ten seconds into the fourth round, Steele landed a left hook, and it was lights out for the Irishman. Overlin attributed the loss to an undisclosed illness with which he had entered the ring. Whether true or not, it was the only time he was ever stopped.

For the next several months, the son of Ireland failed to display his previous fighting qualities. He won some, he lost some.  He gave a lackadaisical effort in losing a boring bout to fellow contender, Walter Woods. Watching the tedious exhibition, Eddie Borden of the Ring wrote, “There was evidently something wrong with Overlin as he displayed very little in the way of fighting ability.” Perhaps he was still ill, or maybe he just hadn’t mentally gotten over the loss to Steele. Maybe he was depressed. Who knows? He proceeded to lose decisions to Fred Hennebury in Sydney and to Lloyd Marshall in San Francisco. Ken then twice won verdicts over Nat Bolden before losing close battles against contender Erich Seelig and former champion Teddy Yarosz. Win or lose, the Irishman had ducked nobody, and learned his craft the old fashioned way, by taking on the best.

After the loss to Yarosz, Ken went undefeated through his next twenty-two fights. He reversed the decision against Seelig, and twice drew with, and handed a defeat to, Ben Brown. And on May 23, 1940, the plucky Irishman captured the New York version of the World Middleweight title in a hard fought struggle waged against champion Ceferino Garcia.

Garcia, an underrated and unappreciated boxer had moved up to middleweight after losing a decision to Henry Armstrong for the welterweight championship. At the higher weight, Garcia scored victories over the much feared Lloyd Marshall (W 10, KO 5), as well as contender Walter Woods (KO 4) and tough Bobby Pacho (W 10, KO 5). After taking the partial title from Fred Apostoli via KO in 7, Garcia had defended it twice against Glenn Lee (KO 13) and Armstrong (D 15).

Overlin was an active champion. After the Garcia victory, he scored three straight non-title wins over solid opposition before losing a controversial decision to Billy Soose. Most observers thought Overlin won the fight by a clear margin. The Associated Press scored the fight in favor of the Irishman, and Nat Fleisher, founder of the Ring magazine, described it as a bad decision.

After three more non-title wins, including one over rival Brown, the Irishman successfully defended his championship by winning a close decision over contender Steve Belloise on November 1, 1940. The fight was close enough to warrant a rematch the following month, only this time Ken gave his rival a lesson on the finer points of boxing in winning the decision by a wide margin. 

On May 9 1941, Billy Soose took the middleweight title from Overlin when he received one of the worst decisions ever rendered in a middleweight title fight. Nat Fleischer reported in the Ring, “In the first five rounds, with one exception, Ken made Soose appear like a raw novice.” Overlin fought on the retreat, stinging Billy with jabs and hooks almost at will. Soose had his moments beginning in round six, but there just weren’t enough of them for him to deserve the decision. According to Fleischer, “Billy missed often, covered his face like one fearing to get marked up, and at times doubled his body half way to the ground to avoid Ken’s stinging jabs.”

The New York Times reporter, Joseph G. Nichols, was even more scathing in his criticism of the judge’s verdict. He wrote, “For eleven of the fifteen sessions, the 31-one-year-old Overlin held an edge over his twenty-three-year-old rival from Farrell, Pa., and in several of these rounds Overlin’s margin was so great that he might have been in the ring all by himself so little was the damage he suffered at the hands of his foeman.”

Both Fleischer and Nichols were impressed by Ken’s cleverness. The latter reported, “Ken knew all the tricks, and he brought them into play. At times he had Soose looking more puzzled than a retarded high school freshman writing a thesis on the quantum theory.”

According to Fleischer, 90 percent of the fans and twenty-eight of thirty-one reporters were of the opinion that Overlin earned the decision.

When the verdict was announced, the crowd stood stunned at first, and then began to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the robbery they had just witnessed with one loud, prolonged “boo” that lasted several minutes. Cries of “robbery” could be heard among the crowd.

The referee and judges argued that Soose deserved the verdict because he had been the aggressor while the champion had fought on the retreat, and Ken, they claimed, had been guilty of excessive holding. Fleischer objected to this rationale, “When a fighter can deliver with effectiveness the large number of punches Overlin landed during the 15 rounds, then it is ample proof that his method of procedure constitutes cleverness. Ken’s potent fists kept up the interest in the fight. Had he not landed as frequently as he did, despite his back movements, there would have been little to enthuse over.”

One month later, the now ex-champion returned to the fistic wars in Cincinnati, Ohio, the hometown of his next opponent—Ezzard Charles. According to the 1980 Ring Record Book, Charles was unbeaten in twenty fights with fourteen knockouts. The Cincinnati fistic whiz is often rated as the number one light heavyweight of all time, and rightfully so. His list of light-heavyweight victims eventually included Joey Maxim, Archie Moore, Lloyd Marshall and Jimmy Bivens, among many others. In 1948, Ezzard weighed all of 175 pounds when he invaded the heavyweight division and stopped contenders Elmer Ray (193 lbs) and Joe Baksi (220 lbs). Back in those days, fighters didn’t need steroids to grow muscles to be great.

Perhaps Overlin wasn’t in the best of moods following the Soose fight; maybe the Irishman was still livid about the judge’s rationale that he hadn’t been aggressive enough. Against Charles, he left no room for doubt. According to the Associated Press, the fight was close for the first five rounds, but then Overlin took over, staggered Charles repeatedly throughout the final five heats, and cruised to a unanimous decision.
Ken won six more fights through the remainder of 1941, including a ten round decision over former champion, Al Hostak. Meanwhile, Charles won four more battles, including an impressive third round stoppage over former light heavyweight champion Anton Christoforidis and a decision over Teddy Yarosz.

On March 2 1942, in a rematch in his hometown of Cincinnati, the best Charles could do against the clever Irishman was battle to a ten round draw. Within nine months after their final encounter, Charles lopsidedly defeated Charley Burley twice (rated number six middleweight of all-time by the Ring magazine), Joey Maxim twice (rated among the top twenty light heavyweights of all time by the Ring), as well as contenders Jose Basora and Booker Beckwith. In two tries in his home town, Charles had failed to even sneak by Overlin.

With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941, the United States entered World War II. The son of Ireland decided to enter the more important war being waged, stepped up to the plate, and rejoined the navy immediately after the sneak attack. In June 1942, he battled his old rival Fred Apostoli to a ten round draw, and then dedicated himself for the next two years to defending his country. The Irishman returned to fistic action in 1944, won four more bouts, and then left the sport for good.

In Reno Nevada, the former champion died on July 24, 1969. Obituaries carried short stories about his career, and then as more years passed by, as fight fans who had once cheered him slowly passed away, the great former champion faded from historical memory. He became a footnote. Who pinned the first loss on Ezzard Charles? But he really deserves far more than being just a footnote. How good was Ken Overlin?

During an era of great middleweights, the son of Ireland was a standout performer.
Think of it this way; not a single victim of recently disposed middleweight king Bernard Hopkins will ever likely be inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame for any of their achievements at middleweight or heavier. Nor are any of his victims likely to be rated among the top thirty, and perhaps even the top 100, middleweights or light heavyweights, of all time. Yet, Hopkins is considered to be one of the greatest middleweights ever, and is considered to have a lock on the Hall of Fame.

By contrast, in his last fifty-five bouts, the Irishman lost only thrice, and two of those were shameful robberies, and he achieved all of this against several fighters rated higher than any of Hopkins victims. Overlin defeated Hall of Fame fighters, and he scored a decisive win over, and drew with, the man usually considered to be the finest light heavyweight of all time. The Irishman ducked no one—black or white.

So why is Hopkins heading straight for the Hall of Fame and not this son of Ireland?