Here's a a nice article from a newspaper dating back to before Turpin's second fight in New York
RANDY TURPIN CERTAIN HE CAN GIVE SAME ANSWER IN NEW YORK LONDON (A.P.).-A quiet, solemn-faced stranger from England with the build of a life- saver and skin the colour of creamy coffee will walk into the bright lights of the Polo Grounds in New York the night of September 12 to defend bis world middleweight boxing title. Randy Turpin won the crown probable the most valuable in the business under the heavyweight class without ever fighting more than 150 miles from his modest little home in Warwick, England. And he won lt the hard way by punching out a decisive points vic- tory over Sugar Ray Robinson, the man the experts called the greatest fighter, pound for pound, In the world. That night In the Polo Grounds he will be giving Robinson a sec- ond change. What happened th« first, time ? Was it a fluke ? A home town de- cision ? Turpin is confident he can pro- vide the same answers In New York that he gave so convincingly In London in July. FOUGHT TO PLAN. Randy claims he beat Robinson with a plan. "I had the fight more than half won before I ever got in the ring," he declared. "All that was left was . to find out if it was going to work. By the third round I knew lt would." "We figured out Robinson could be hit when he was backing away," Turpin's handlers explained. "We studied the pictures of every Robin- son fight we could get our hands on. We saw that he was quick. He came In bursts. When he backed off his opponents always looked so relieved that they were willing to rest. It looked to us like he could be hit when he let up. The few times anybody tried it they seemed to land." Neither Randy nor any of his usual handlers had ever seen Robinson fight in person. "I figured that if he knew we were watching he'd hold something back," Turpin said, "Just like I did when I knew his manager (George Gainford) was watching me." But the Turpin camp knew they needed some outside help. They made a deal with Mel Brown, an oversized American negro middle- weight who has been campaigning in this country. Brown signed on as a sparring partner. He and Randy, plus Randy's old brother Dick-.> former British middleweight title- holder who now acts as Randy's trainer-ran the movies of Robin- son over and over. They studied every punch. Brown's Job was to be Robinson. He copied the style by the hour. And the Turpin brothers plotted ways to beat it. Their answers were nothing sen- sational. They've been shouted at almost every fighter stace David kayoed Goliath. In the shortest possible term they amounted to "be first" and "be careful." J LESSON WELL LEARNED. ? Turpin learned his lesson well. [ He tied up Robinson when he '? could. He ducked under punches. I bending his right knee almost to ; the floor, and slid up in under ! Robinson's fists. And when tho [ champ halted a barrage. Randy waa [ in on top of him with left jabs, i Turpin forced the pace. He kept moving forward. Jabbing at Í Robinson's head and stomach, i Sometimes he looked awkward and ! off balance. He always has. But I Robinson couldn't do anything ! about it. He had to give ground. And when ! Turpin saw him backing away, he j pounced in. S Turpin had trained hard, boxing up to 10 rounds a day for three weeks. He knew he never had fought more than eight rounds in j any of his other 43 professional ! bouts. He knew Robinson was in a i class miles above anybody he had ever met before. And he was ready for this one to go all 15 rounds if necessary. The 23-year-old English waa still going strong at the final bell. Randy is the son of Beatrice Whitehouse Turpin, a white Eng- lish woman, and lionel Cecil Tur- pin, a British Guiana -negro, who came to Europe to fight in the first world war and who was gassed in battle. Lionel Turpin died a few months alter Randy was,born. He left his 24-year-old widow with five chil- ¡ dren. Randy, Jackie and Dick, Jean and Kathleen. Mrs. Turpin's health was not too good and the traditionally Im- poverished churchmouse " was .> millionaire compared with the Tur- pin family. They moved in on her father, old Thomas Whitehouse, who had made quite a name for himself as a bare-knuckle heavyweight. Grandpa Tom got a paper route. Mrs. Turpin scrubbed floors. And they had a Government pension of less than a pound a week. When Randy was two. he be- came very sick-double pneumonia, bronchitis, a stomach ailment. The doctor said he wouldn't live more than a month. With his brothers Dick and Jackie, he learned to fight early. The kids in the street taunted them about their colour. They took it as long as they could and then they fought back with their fists, All three fought often as ama- teurs and in the side-shows at carnivals, taking on all comers. When Dick turned professional, be brought along his little brothers as an added attraction. - MESS BOY IN NATT. Randy Joined the Navy as soon as he was old enough. They made him a mess boy. Randy is deaf In one ear and does not have perfect hearing in the other-a result of a swniiming accident when he was 13. He remembers that in the Navy they made him jump through his paces because often he could not hear the orders. He turned professional while still in the navy, knocking out Gordon Griffiths, of Wales In one round In London on September 17, 1946, in his first professional bout. Since then he's won all but three fights. He fought one .draw with Mark Hart, lost on points to Albert Finch and was stooped In five rounds by Jean Stock, of France on September 21, 1948. The Stock fight reminds Randy of other unpleasant memories. It came at the very time that his marriage was breaking up. In 1946 Randy married Maria Treresa Stack, a 19-year-old white girl from his home town. Randy, jr., a cute, curly-haired boy with a fair complexion, was born a vear later. Randy and his wife had trouble. Randy won't tali about it other than to say he's sorry the marriage didn't work. Teresa has the custody of the boy and gets £6/10/- a week by court order. They are legally separated but not divorced. Randy moved along fast as a boxer and two years ago started head-lining the London fight cards. When Dick lost his British middle- weight title to Albert Finch, Randy got it back with a five point knock 1 out. Then Randy kayoed Lue Van Dam. oí Holland. In Just over two minutes for the European title. Despite Randy's continued suc- cess, the British Press was more re- strained about his world chances than you would imagine. The reason was simple. Most of the writers thought Randy could not take it because ha ls a negro. Turpin knew what Uley were sa. lng. And hs has . straight- forward answer: "Nobody, regardless of his col- our, likes to take lt in the stomach. And when they were talking about the Robinson fight they seemed to forget that ii was going to ba two coloured boys fighting." Nevertheless, Turpin did everything possible to prove his critics wrong. He hired an expert to teach him weight-lifting that would build up his stomach muscles. He took long sessions ot pounding in tbs tummy with a medicine ball. And ne made his sparring partners by to hit him down below. Arthur Batty, the weight man Turpin hired, said the champion'» muscles (stomach) are now two Inches thick and hard enough to stand quite a blt. Randy does not say much. He likes to listen to sweet music played loud. He reads comic books, likes bright plaid shirts and does not dance, "although I like to watch other folks dance." He ls deeply religious. He sleeps with a Crucifix, a gift from his mother, above his bed. He has a cross tatooed on his right forearm. Other tattoos, souvenirs from his navy hitch, are the words: "Mother" and "Ma" across his arm.
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