Boxing legend's son speaks out; TURPIN'S DOWNFALL WAS A DISGRACE FOR TOWN, TV PROGRAMME TOLD.
Byline: ARRYN BUGGINSTHE ESTRANGED son of Leamington boxing legend Randolph Turpin will speak about his father's death for the first time in a TV programme this week.
Randolph Junior has never publicly spoken about his father who was a world champion in 1951.
He killed himself 15 years later after his career went downhill. He was also reported to have shot his daughter, although she refuses to believe he was responsible.
Randolph Junior said: "When I think about it now, he did marvels. For the way he was to end up, I think that was a terrible disgrace to himself, for boxing and, really, I could say Leamington."
Carmen, the daughter who was shot and survived, said: "Why wouldn't he have done that? Because he loved me that's why.
"The father I remember just would not have been able to do that to me."
The 30-minute show, presented by boxing commentator Harry Carpenter, will tell the story of the Leamington Licker who shocked the boxing world when he beat Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951 to take the world middleweight title.
The 50th anniversary programme charts Turpin's rise to fame and his tragic death.
The boxer was the son of the first black man to settle in Warwickshire and one of three brothers who took up boxing to escape from poverty.
Jackie, his only surviving brother, said: "Whatever he did, he was good at.
"I asked him what he was going to do when he grew up. He said whatever he did he'd be the best in the world at it. I said: 'What if you carry on boxing?' He replied that he'd be the world champion."
Earlier this year, a statue of Turpin was unveiled in Market Place, Warwick.
The programme, A Life on the Ropes, is broadcast on BBC2 on Thursday at 7.30pm.
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| Publication: | Coventry Evening Telegraph (England) |
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| Date: | Nov 12, 2001 |
| Words: | 306 |
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