Editing Randolph Turpin (section)

==Professional career==
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''"His typical day at this stage begins at 6:30 a.m., when he goes out on the hills and cliffs and winding roads around the castle. After running seven to twelve miles with his trainer and his Alsation dog Carl, he takes a rub down and perhaps more sleep. Then comes his gymnasium work lasting 60 to 90 minutes. Lunch at one o'clock is almost always the same, steak and salad. In the afternoon he goes out with his gun rabbit-shooting. Turpin is not quite so accurate with his gun as with his fists, he has fired 200 cartridges in one afternoon without killing a bunny. In the evening he relaxes, reading comics and oddly enough, poetry. At 8:30 comes the second and last meal of the day, steak and salad again as often as not. Four cigarettes are the strict daily ration. Turpin drinks no alcohol in training or out, fruit juices and tea are his staples. Lights are out at 10:30 p.m."''

- Turpin's daily routine whilst training at Gwrych Caste.
|source=''Daily News (London)'' - 28 August 1953<ref>{{cite web|title=''Daily News (London)''|date=28 August 1953|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003214/19530828/186/0006|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref>
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He was approached by many top professional managers but decided to turn professional with George Middleton, a local man who managed his brother Dick.<ref name="birtley" />

He made his professional debut in London on 17 September 1946 stopping Gordon Griffiths. He scored another 14 victories before drawing over six rounds with Mark Hart in 1947. He suffered two defeats in 1948: the first a points decision to Albert Finch over eight rounds and the second a stoppage defeat to Jean Stock. Turpin was knocked down four times and retired on his stool at the end of round five.<ref name="birtley" />

It was said that the two defeats were as a result of marital problems that he was experiencing at that time. On the day of the Stock fight he had been notified that his wife had been given custody of their son and he had told his brother Dick that he didn't feel like fighting and wouldn't be at all surprised if he lost.<ref name="birtley" /> After the Stock fight he took a five-month break from the sport to try and sort his personal life out.

He had embarked on a weight training regime designed by a man called Arthur Batty and built up his physical strength.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://aminoman.com/blogs/news/what-we-can-learn-from-randolph-turpin | title=What we can learn from Randolph Turpin | date=8 June 2020 }}</ref> Weight training was frowned upon in boxing circles because it was thought that it made fighters muscle-bound and inflexible in their movements. Turpin proved to be the exception to this rule and many of his future opponents including Sugar Ray Robinson would comment on his immense physical strength. Turpin developed a knockout punch with either hand and became a formidable force for any fighter to deal with.<ref name="birtley" />

He went on a winning streak where he avenged the two defeats that he had suffered and, in the process, picked up the British Middleweight Title and the vacant European Middleweight Title. Incidentally his brother Dick had been the first non-white fighter to win a British Title when he had beaten Vince Hawkins in 1948 for the British Middleweight Title, following the removal of the colour bar that had been in place since 1911.

In 1951 Sugar Ray Robinson, who is considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time, embarked on a European tour. The final leg of his tour was a fight for the world title with Randolph Turpin in London. Few people gave Turpin a chance of winning against Robinson and in fact many people thought that it was a mismatch and that Turpin could be badly hurt.<ref name="bfi" /> Robinson had been unbeaten as an amateur and had only lost one fight out of a total of 132 as a professional, and that was to Jake LaMotta. He had subsequently avenged the loss to LaMotta, beating him a total of five times.

On 10 July 1951 a crowd of 18,000 turned up at Earls Court to watch Turpin fight Robinson. Many people listened to the fight on the wireless to see if Turpin could beat Robinson. Turpin was not overawed by the occasion and took the fight to Robinson from the first bell. Robinson had trouble dealing with Turpin's awkward style of fighting and was manhandled by Turpin in the clinches. By the 15th round Turpin was ahead on points and only had to survive the round to win. At the end of the fight Turpin's glove was raised by the referee in victory.<ref name="bfi" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87vCaYHalBI | title=Sugar Ray Robinson vs Randy Turpin 1 | website=[[YouTube]] | date=11 August 2017 }}</ref> He was the first British fighter to hold the world middleweight title since Bob Fitzsimmons in 1891. He had become an overnight sporting hero. Two days later he was given a civic reception before a crowd of 10,000 people in his home town of Leamington with the mayors of both Leamington and Warwick present.<ref name="bfi" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWRTgPQNPwc&t=33s | title=Champion's Homecoming | website=[[YouTube]] | date=21 July 2015 }}</ref>

Boxing in the 1950s was a mainstream sport alongside football and cricket and with the advent of television it was increasing in popularity. Britain was still recovering from the impact of the war and was a bleak place to live for a lot of people, with rationing of food still in place. As such, the victory of a British fighter over an American fighter who was already being regarded as a superstar in the sport of boxing, was something for the whole nation to cheer about.<ref name="jackie" />

In order to get the fight with Robinson, Turpin had to sign a contract that contained a 90-day return clause. Meaning that if he won, he had to give Robinson a return fight within 90 days of the original fight. The return fight took place on 12 September 1951 at the Polo Grounds, New York before a crowd of 61,370 people.

Turpin again gave Robinson a hard fight and it was fairly even going into the 10th round. Robinson sustained a bad cut and in desperation went for a knockout. He managed to knock Turpin down with a big right-hand punch. Turpin got up at the count of seven and was then trapped against the ropes and taking a sustained beating when the referee Ruby Goldstein stopped the fight. Some people said that the stoppage was premature but by today's standards it was not. Turpin's reign had lasted only 64 days.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jMIe-vvbCY | title=Randolph Turpin vs Sugar Ray Robinson 2 | website=[[YouTube]] | date=22 February 2021 }}</ref>

In a article, written in April 1952, quoted Randolph as wanting to retire in 'one or two years' and go into business with Leslie T. Salts (owner of Gwrych Castle), and teach youngsters across Britain to fight in the 'ideal surroundings' of Gwrych, instead of the school of hard knocks he experienced as a youth. He planned on building a gymnasium at the castle for young boxers to train in.

During his time at Gwrych, he picked up on a few Welsh words from dating Gwyneth Price and he would sign his autographs with 'Hên lwc' (Old luck), 'Pob lwc' (Every luck) and 'Lwc Dda' (Good luck), although it is not known how proficient he was at speaking it.

Turpin fought Don Cockell in 1952 for the British and Commonwealth Light Heavyweight Titles. He stopped Cockell in the 11th round. Cockell would later go on to give Rocky Marciano a good fight for the heavyweight title.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_TdFNVlek | title=Randolph Turpin vs Don Cockell | website=[[YouTube]] | date=22 February 2021 }}</ref>

Turpin regained the European Middleweight Title in 1953 with a points victory over Charles Humez, and was recognised as world champion in Europe. However, Turpin's world title was not recognised in America. Following the retirement of Sugar Ray Robinson Turpin was nominated to fight for the vacant World Middleweight Title against Carl 'Bobo' Olsen.

The fight against Olson took place at Madison Square Gardens in 1953. Turpin had not trained properly for the fight (the reason became apparent after the fight). He won the first three rounds but then faded badly and was outpointed over 15 rounds having been floored in the ninth and tenth rounds. Turpin spent much of the fight trapped on the ropes taking punches at close quarters to the head and body. After the fight Turpin was urinating blood indicating that he had suffered damage to his kidneys from Olson's sustained body punches.<ref name="bfi" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJqVOi6kFEw&t=823s | title=Carl "Bobo" Olson vs. Randy Turpin.World MWC.1953.10.21 | website=[[YouTube]] | date=18 April 2020 }}</ref>

The Olson fight was the turning point in Turpin's career. He was never the same fighter after the punishment he absorbed in that fight and thereafter became a diminished fighting force. In addition, he was having trouble making the middleweight weight limit of 11st 6lbs (160lbs).<ref name="bfi" />

Turpin suffered a first round stoppage loss to Tiberio Mitri who was not known as a big puncher. In Rome in 1954 when he was caught by a left hook and half punched and half pushed to the canvas. He fell heavily and hit the back of his head on the ring floor, staggering to his feet only to collapse into the ropes before again regaining his feet. The referee decided he was in no fit state to continue and stopped the fight.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62hP2uVvoQs | title=Randolph Turpin vs Tiberio Mitri 2.5.1954 - European Middleweight Title | website=[[YouTube]] | date=23 January 2016 }}</ref>

Mitri had exploited a flaw in Turpin's boxing technique whereby he dropped his right hand which was supposed to protect his chin, leaving him exposed to a left hook. In his younger days his reflexes had been fast enough to prevent such a thing from happening. But as he aged his reflexes began to slow and his punch resistance diminished. In addition, he was suffering from eye problems. His eyes had become misaligned and his peripheral vision was starting to deteriorate. The British Board of Boxing control (BBBC) made Turpin have a full medical, but decided that he was fit enough to continue his career.<ref name="bfi" />

Following a nine-month break, Turpin returned as a light heavyweight 12st 7lbs (175lbs), but could no longer be considered a true world title contender in this weight division. Although there was talk of matching him against Archie Moore for the world title. He was fighting bigger men, who were just as strong as he was and could absorb his punches whilst punching, as hard as he did. Thus, taking away some of the advantages he had enjoyed whilst boxing as a middleweight.

He still dominated at a domestic level and in 1955 he beat Alex Buxton to take the British and Commonwealth Light Heavyweight Titles. However, in October of that year he was knocked out by the unheralded Canadian dock worker Gordon Wallace. Suffering four knockdowns in the process and announced his retirement.

He came out of retirement in 1956 and scored two wins before losing on points to Hans Stretz in Germany.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQsxCEwNawc | title=Turpin Fight | website=[[YouTube]] | date=21 July 2015 }}</ref> In November of that year he beat Alex Buxton again for the British Light Heavyweight Title.

The BBBC stopped a proposed fight between Turpin and Willie Pastrano from going ahead because they thought that it was not in the best interests of boxing. In other words, they thought that Turpin might get hurt, which would damage the image of boxing.<ref name="birtley" />

He had his final fight in 1958 when he was badly knocked out by Yolande Pompey. Turpin was knocked flat on his back by a right-hand punch to the side of the head. He gamely tried to get up four times but each time stumbled whilst trying to regain his feet and fell back onto the canvas before being counted out.<ref name="bfi" /> He had knocked Pompey down in the first round but instead of trying to finish him off had touched gloves in a gesture of sportsmanship, which may well have cost him the fight.<ref name="birtley" />

The BBBC stopped him acting as a sparring partner for Terry Downes in 1961. Because of their fears concerning the cumulative effect on his physical health of the punishment he had absorbed during the course of his boxing career. He had two unlicensed fights (not licensed by the BBBC) in 1963 and 1964 against opponents who were making their professional debuts and he stopped both of them.