Market Square, Warwick
Image by carolyngifford
Also in Market Square, Warwick is this bronze statue of Randolph Turpin (1928-1966), middleweight boxing champion of the world in 1951. Randolph’s father came from Guyana and was invalided to Warwick after the Battle of the Somme, then marrying and moving to Leamington Spa, where Randolph was born. Randolph was the youngest of five children, and his father died a year after his birth, after which his mother moved back to Warwick. Turpin had an illustrious career as an amateur boxer, and In 1945 he won both the junior and senior ABA titles in the same season, the only person to have completed such a feat, and the first black boxer to win a senior ABA championship. In June 1951 he beat the American Sugar Ray Robinson to become middleweight champion of the world.
Randy Turpin also served in the navy and had problems in both his personal life and business, and it took 50 years for his supporters to have his achievements publicly acknowledged by the erection of this statue in 2001. It’s by Carl Payne and was unveiled by Sir Henry Cooper.