AllMovie

This biographical documentary charts the career of British middleweight boxing champion Randolph Turpin, who led a largely unhappy life with one brief, shining moment. Director Franco Rosso uses archival footage as well as interviews with Turpin's relatives, friends, and former wife to provide a complete picture of the fighter. Turpin was a street kid and a bully who started boxing on his own at the age of eight. Fifteen years later, he got a match with Sugar Ray Robinson and defeated him for the world championship. He held the title for only 64 days when a rematch brought Robinson back to boxing's throne. Turpin's excesses and his inability to listen to the best advice of his friends and colleagues led him continually downward. By the time he was 38, it was over in a most tragic and horrible manner.