Leo Randolph (born February 27, 1958) is an American former boxer, who won the Flyweight Gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Amateur career Randolph had an outstanding amateur career. Randolph was a product of the Tacoma Boys Club amateur program, along with fellow Olympic Gold Medalist Sugar Ray Seales, and future world champions Rocky Lockridge and Johnny Bumphus. Randolph was trained as an amateur and professional by Joe Clough, the head trainer at the Tacoma Boys Club. In 1975 he was the National Golden Gloves Flyweight champion. He was a National AAU flyweight champion, and was the 1976 Olympic Flyweight Gold Medalist.
Leo Randolph's 1976 Montreal Olympic boxing results were as follows: 1st round bye Defeated Massoudi Samatou (Togo) walkover Defeated Constantin Gruiescu (Romania) 4–1 Defeated Davy Larmour (Ireland) 4–1 Defeated Leszek Błażyński (Poland) 4–1 Defeated Ramón Duvalón (Cuba) 3–2
Professional career Randolph turned pro in 1978. In 1980, with a record of 16–1, he challenged Ricardo Cardona for the WBA Super Bantamweight Title in a bout held in Seattle. Randolph won via TKO in the 15th round. In his next fight, he lost his title to Sergio Victor Palma via TKO in the 5th. Randolph retired after the bout. He currently holds the record for the earliest retirement ever by a former professional world boxing champion, and at two years and fifty days, Randolph also holds the record for the shortest career for any world boxing champion.
Randolph-Palma fight After winning the World Boxing Association super bantamweight championship from Ricardo Cardona on May 4, 1980, Randolph made his first title defense versus Argentina's Sergio Palma three months later in Spokane, WA on August 9, 1980. The bout was nationally televised. Palma was not generally known to have an aggressive style or be a hard puncher, but he immediately went on the offensive from the opening bell. Palma staggered Randolph early in the first round, staggered him again, and then floored the champion twice before the round ended. Pressing his advantage, Palma dominated round two, clearly overwhelming the young champion. Randolph rallied in both rounds three and four by boxing defensively, but Palma reasserted himself in round five. Randolph was knocked down for the third time in the contest and rose on shaky legs. Referee Stanley Christodoulou counted beyond the mandatory eight count as Randolph stood groggily with his right hand draped over the top rope. He stopped the fight at 1:12 of the round, ruling that Randolph was in no condition to continue. According to an article written by Jim Benagh in the November 1980 edition of The Ring magazine, Randolph, a deeply religious man, said he did not have the necessary killer instinct to continue as a professional boxer and voluntarily chose to retire from the ring at age 22.
Personal Leo now resides in his hometown of Tacoma. After boxing, he started working for the Pierce Transit public bus company in 1988 where, he worked as a transit operator and supervisor until his retirement in late 2023.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes19Loss17–2Sergio Victor PalmaTKO5 (15), 9 Aug 198018Win17–1Ricardo CardonaTKO15 (15), 4 May 198017Win16–1Tony RochaKO2 (10)28 Mar 198016Win15–1Baby Kid ChocolateUD1026 Jan 198015Win14–1Joe Kid ZaldivarTKO2 (10)12 Jan 198014Win13–1Tony CisnerosKO3 (10)27 Nov 197913Win12–1Oscar MunizSD1027 Oct 197912Win11–1Jose Luis BautistaUD1022 Sep 197911Win10–1Darryl Jones1025 Mar 197910Win9–1Alfonso CirilloTKO5 (10)25 May 19799Loss8–1David Capo820 Apr 19798Win8–0Tony Hernandez4 (8)15 Dec 19787Win7–0Ralph RomanKO2 (8)1 Dec 19786Win6–0Fernando MartinezUD814 Nov 19785Win5–0Carlos Zayas1 (8), 1 Nov 19784Win4–0Eddie LoganUD85 Oct 19783Win3–0Marcial SantiagoUD617 Aug 19782Win2–0Tony Reed812 Jul 19781Win1–0Alfonso del Gadillo2 (6)20 Jun 1978
Honors 2005 Inductee into the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame
See also List of super-bantamweight boxing champions
References
July 3, 2006 Sports Illustrated, "A Flurry of Punch Lines" (for update)
External links