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Randolph Turpin vs Tiberio Mitri 2.5.1954 - European Middleweight Title

1,954 views · Published 24 January 2016 · 1:56 · Indexed 4 October 2026

Channel: Classic Boxing Matches · 2016 · Sports

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Former World Middleweight Champion Randolph Turpin defends his European Middleweight Title against Tiberio Mitri of Italy.  More info below...

Tiberio Mitri was a very good fighter with a 64-4-6 record and was a former Middleweight Champion of Italy.  In 1948 he fought Dick Turpin, Randolph's brother, in an elimination bout for a shot at the European Middleweight title which ended in a draw.  4 months later Dick Turpin and Mitri would fight again in another European Middleweight elimination bout and although the fight was just as close as the first one Mitri was able to finish stronger and earned a 12 round unanimous victory.  In May 1949 he got his shot at the European title, beating Cyrille Delannoit over 15 rounds.  He successfully defended his title once before earning a shot at World Middleweight Champion, Jake LaMotta.  Although Mitri gave a good effort against the rugged veteran, LaMotta won a relatively easy 15 round decision.  Mitri would vacate the European Middleweight title following this loss and fought mainly low level boxers for the next 4 years before being granted a shot at Randolph Turpin.

Randolph Turpin may be one of the most underrated European boxers there ever was.  He was incredibly talented and had beaten some top level competition however his quick fall from grace followed by the controversy surrounding his suicide in 1966 is what people remember most more than his numerous in-ring achievements.  Randolph started his career in 1946 going 18-0-1 before being outpointed by Albert Finch over 8 rounds in 1948.  Randolph would get his revenge 2 years later however when he would KO Finch in the 5th round to win the BBBoC British Middleweight title.  4 months later and Randolph would beat Luc van Dam by 1st round KO to win the European Middleweight title which had recently been vacated by Tiberio Mitri.  In July 1951 Randolph would shock the boxing world by putting on a boxing clinic, outpointing Sugar Ray Robinson over 15 rounds to win the World Middleweight title!  Randolph's time at the top of the middleweight mountain was very short lived however as just 2 months later he would lose the World Title back to Robinson via TKO in 10.  But, Randolph would bounce back and in 1952 he beat Don Cockell to claim the Commonwealth and BBBoC Light Heavyweight Titles.  In his next fight he would also add the Commonwealth Middleweight title to his resume.  In 1953, Randolph Turpin and Charles Humez were matched against each other to declare a new British World Middleweight Champion after Ray Robinson had retired from the sport and vacated his title.  Randolph would outpoint Humez over 15 rounds to claim the BBBoC's version of the World Middleweight Title but the European Boxing Union and US commissions refused to recognize any world champion until Turpin meets the American Middleweight Champion, Carl "Bobo" Olsen.  Bobo Olsen and Randolph Turpin would meet in October 1953 for the vacant World Middleweight title with Olsen winning a 15 round unanimous decision, knocking Turpin down twice in the process.  Heading into his fight with Mitri, Randolph was sporting a 50-4-1 record.

The fight between Mitri and Randolph Turpin was over in 65 seconds.  Turpin was knocked down from a left hook that landed just under the right ear, felling him like a log. He got up at five but stumbled across the ring and collapsed against the ropes. He pulled himself up but was so shaky that the referee stopped the fight.  This signaled to many the start of the decline for Randolph Turpin...

Randolph would go on to win the Commonwealth and BBBoC Light Heavyweight titles for a second time in 1955 however by then his best years were behind him.  He was KO'd by unheralded Gordon Wallace in late 1955, outpointed by German Light Heavyweight Champion Hanz Stretz in 1956, picked up a few unspectacular wins against no name opponents during 1957 before being KO'd in 2 by a struggling Yolande Pompey.  Randolph retired from the sport following his loss to Pompey only to return 5 years later in 1963.  He picked up 2 easy wins against debuting fighters before retiring again in 1964 with a final record of 66-8-1.  On May 17 1966, Randolph Turpin would commit suicide...

Tiberio Mitri would continue boxing for another 3 years however he never had the opportunity to gain any real further success.  His final professional record was 88-7-6.

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