World Featherweight Champion from February 22, 1912, until June 2, 1923. Won title from Abe Attell. Finally lost crown to Eugene Criqui. Inducted into Boxing Hall of Fame in 1960.
One of the finest fighters of his era, he defeated many of the best lightweights of the 1920’s. His most memorable fight took place in Cleveland in 1924. Johnny Dundee, the world featherweight champion, relinquished his crown that year to seek the lightweight title. Dundee was paired with O’Connell in his quest for the new divisional crown and O’Connell emerged the victor.
One of the finest middleweight fighters ever produced in Cleveland, Lloyd Marshall met and defeated the best in his class during his notable career. Among his victims were Anton Christoforidis and Ezzard Charles (by a knockout). Both later became world champions.
Defeated all comers in the 118-lb. (bantamweight) division at the 1936 Chicago Olympic trials to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team for the Berlin Games. In a close decision which required contestants to box an extra round to determine the winner, he captured the bronze medal for his country at the Olympics.
A standout 112-pounder (flyweight) in the 1930’s, he won a place on the 1936 U.S. Olympic Team by capturing the flyweight title in the Chicago Olympic trials, then went to Berlin to battle his way to the bronze medal. At the conclusion of the competition he was awarded a special trophy for being selected cleverest boxer in the Games.
There are records and there are DiMaggio’s 56 and Cy Young’s 511; the virtually untouchables. And then there is Pete Rademacher’s mark. It will never be beaten. The best anyone could ever do is match it. After winning the 1956 Olympic heavyweight boxing champion, Pete became the first, and still only, boxer in history to fight for the championship of his division in his first professional match. There is no fairytale ending to the story; although he was knocked down in the second round, defending champion Floyd Patterson bounced up to win on a 6th round TKO in their 1957 bout. But the fact that the match took place at all is still a topic of wonder among fight fans. So, for that matter, is Rademacher. A star varsity boxer and two-year football starter at Washington State in 1950-51, he was not without experience as an amateur, winning four Seattle Golden Gloves titles, the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1953 and the Chicago Golden Gloves and All-Army and All-Service championships in 1956 before qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team. In Melbourne, he won all three of his Olympic bouts by knockout, earning the gold medal with a first round win over favored Russian opponent Lev Moukhine in a highly charged atmosphere. Soon after, he began negotiating for his improbable shot at the professional heavyweight crown. Amazingly, he was able to pull it off by enlisting backers to post a $250,000 guarantee. After the Patterson bout he would go on to fight 22 more times as a pro, winning 14 (8 by knockout) and losing 7 before retiring in 1962. Two of those bouts were at the Cleveland Arena and both ended in victory. Afterwards he went into business at Keifer-McNeil in Akron, retiring as its president in 1987, and frequently refereed boxing matches in Northeast Ohio. For over 40 years he has made his home in Medina.
For more than 40 years, Clinton Martin has trained amateur boxers on the local, national and international levels, tutoring some of Cleveland’s finest pugilistic products. Among them were Jeff Stoudemire, 1978 Golden Gloves champion and 1979 national AAU champion and Golden Gloves titlists Henry Hughes (1981), Sanderline Williams (1982) and Todd Hickman (1982 and 1983). Twice he was selected to coach USA amateur teams against the national teams of Cuba and Russia. Since 1990 he has served Cleveland as Commissioner of Boxing and Wrestling and in 1996 he was elected vice president of the local governing body, ABA of the USA, for the Northwestern Counties of Ohio.
In an era when Cleveland was renowned for producing talented young boxing prospects, Jackie Keough ranked among the best. While just 17, the West Tech High School product advanced to the 1943 finals of the city Golden Gloves lightweight championship. The next year he came back to win the Northeastern Ohio Golden Gloves welterweight title. After spending 27 months in the Navy during World War II, he returned home in 1947 to win the national AAU welterweight championship in Chicago’s Tournament of Champions after winning the welterweight crown for the East in the National East-West Confrontation in New York as well as a second Cleveland Golden Gloves title. This prompted the Plain Dealer to hail him as “the best professional prospect to come out of Cleveland since Jimmy Bivins.” After 200 amateur bouts, he turned pro in 1946.
Mannie Robbins was a successful fighter who remained in the sport to develop an extensive stable of successful fighters. As a trainer and gym owner, he produced some of the best boxers to come out of Greater Cleveland.
Cleveland’s flyweight champion in 1920, 1921 and 1922, Phil Goldstein earned the right to compete in the National AAU Boxing Tournament in Boston in 1923. He fought his way to the semifinals of that tournament before losing a split decision to Fidel Labarbra, who went on to win the AAU crown, the 1924 Olympic championship and eventually the world professional flyweight title. A distinguished professional career followed with successes against some of the most imposing opposition.