Carnival Of Champions featuring Randolph Turpin vs Jackie Keough, Don Cockell vs Nick Barone, and Jack Gardner vs Cesar Brion official on-site 32 page programme, 5th June 1951, White City Stadium, London.

Condition very good (slight soiling on back cover and staples rusted but all pages intact).

Turpin W TKO 7
Cockell W KO 6
Brion W Pts over 10 rounds

Price: £65

Born in Leamington, Warwickshire, England, Turpin is considered one of the most exciting personalities in British boxing. He won the 1945 British Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) welterweight title the 1946 ABA middleweight title.

As a professional, he won the British and European middleweight titles before scoring a major upset over Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Robinson on July 10, 1951 to win the world title. The victory over Robinson made the hard-punching Turpin a national hero.

Turpin lost the title to Robinson in the rematch, but rebounded to TKO Don Cockell in 11 rounds to win the British Empire light heavyweight title. Following a win over Walter Cartier, he lost a 15-round decision to Hall of Famer Bobo Olson for the world middleweight title on October 21, 1953.

Turpin, who also won the British Empire middleweight and British light heavyweight titles in his career, boxed until 1964.











Don Cockell, fought for most of his career as a light-heavyweight and became the British and European champion at that weight. Later in his career he moved up to heavyweight and held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. He is best remembered for fighting against Rocky Marciano for the world heavyweight championship

Early Life
His full name was Donald John Cockell and he was born on 22 September 1928 in Balham, London, the son of Kate Cockell, a domestic servant from Battersea. He never knew his father. He was a blacksmith by trade and as a result, developed a strong physique. He began boxing in fairground booths and soon rose through the amateur ranks until he was ready to turn professional in 1946.

Professional Career
Cockell had his first professional fight on 26 June 1946 against Trevor Lowder and won it by a knockout in the fifth round. He continued to build up an impressive fighting record marred by the occasional defeat. By 1950 he was ready to challenge for the vacant British light-heavyweight title recently vacated due to the retirement of Freddie Mills. On 17 October at Harringay Arena he fought Mark Hart and took the title with a knockout in the fourteenth round.

Cockell fought and won two more fights before fighting the Frenchman Albert Yvel for his European light-heavyweight title. The bout took place on 27 March 1951 at Earls Court, London and Cockell won by a technical knockout in the sixth round.

Cockell had two more wins before defending his British and European titles against Albert Finch, who had previously been British middleweight champion. The bout was held on 16 October 1951, at Harringay Arena, and Cockell won by a knockout in the seventh round.

Cockell decisively lost his next fight against the American heavyweight Jimmy Slade. Fighting at Harringay Arena, Cockell was knocked down twice in the first round, once in the second, and twice more in the fourth. The referee then stopped the fight. Cockell followed this defeat with a points win against Italian light-heavyweight Renato Tontini, despite being knocked down twice in the second round.

Cockell then fought against Randolph Turpin, who the year before, had beaten Sugar Ray Robinson to become world middleweight champion, before losing his title in the re-match. Cockell was defending his British title, and both fighters were contesting the vacant Commonwealth light-heavyweight title. The bout was at the White City Stadium on 10 June 1952. Cockell was knocked down three times during the fight and lost on a technical knockout in the eleventh round.

One of the reasons for the defeat was the difficulty that Cockell had in making the weight for light-heavyweight fights. He therefore decided to subsequently fight as a heavyweight. His next three fights, at heavyweight were all won by technical knockouts. The third one was against the Welshman, Tommy Farr, who had been an excellent heavyweight, fighting against the great Joe Louis, but was now at the end of his career.

The fight against Farr was a final eliminator for the British heavyweight title, and so put Cockell in line for a title challenge against the holder Johnny Williams. The bout British and Commonwealth titles was held at Harringay Arena on 12 May 1953, and Cockell won on points over fifteen rounds.

Cockell then had two more wins before defending his Commonwealth title against Johnny Arthur in Johannesburg, South Africa. He won the fight on points after fifteen rounds.

Cockell moved rapidly up the heavyweight rankings by scoring three wins against American fighters. First he beat Roland La Starza on points at Earls Court Arena, then he had successive victories over Harry (Kid) Matthews, first at the White City Stadium and then at Sicks' Stadium, Seattle.

These victories put him in line for a title fight against the world champion Rocky Marciano. This was the first British world title bid since Tommy Farr had fought Joe Louis in 1937.

World Heavyweight Title Fight
On 16 May 1955, Cockell fought Marciano for the world heavyweight title at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, CA. Cockell was a 10-1 underdog and weighed 205 pounds against Marciano’s 189. For the first three rounds the fight was fairly even, but as it progressed further Cockell began to take more and more punishment, without being able to hurt Marciano at all. Cockell ended the eighth round hanging through the ropes after withstanding a terrific beating. Marciano won the fight by a technical knockout 54 seconds into round nine after Cockell had been knocked down twice, for counts of eight and seven. After the fight, Marciano stated, "He's got a lot of guts. I don't think I ever hit anyone else any more often or harder."

Many boxing fans in Britain felt that Marciano employed unfair tactics, such as hitting after the bell and low punches, but although the British Boxing Board of Control protested, Cockell himself made no complaints.

Aftermath
The title fight had taken much out of Cockell, and he lost his subsequent two fights. In September 1955 he lost to the Cuban, Nino Valdes at the White City Stadium by a technical knockout in the third round. He weighed 216 pounds for the fight. In April 1956 he was knocked out in the second round Kitione Lave, known as the “Tongan Terror”. That was his final fight. In May 1956 he was stripped of his Commonwealth title and in July he surrendered his British title and retired.

Cockell sued the Daily Mail after the newspaper had described him as being ‘overweight and flabby’ for his last fight, and not giving his all. He received £7500 damages with costs.

Retirement
He tried various jobs including running a farm, being a publican, and running a haulage firm. His last job was as an emergency maintenance man. He died of cancer on 18 July 1983 at a hospital in Tooting. He was married to Patricia Mary Cockell.

Fight Record
He had 81 official fights winning 66 with 38 knockouts and lost 14 with one draw.











Jack Gardner was born in 1926 at Market Harborough, England. He began boxing while in the Grenadier Guards in the British Army during the 1940s and won the Army and Imperial Services Titles in 1948 as well as the ABA Heavyweight Title. He weighed anywhere from 198 to 221 pounds during his career. He was one of the best punchers in the heavyweight division and was never KO'd during his career (he lost two by TKO, one due to cuts).

He made his professional debut in 1948 when he defeated three men on the same night in a novice tournament. Gardner won all three fights by knockout in the first round. He was a slow mover but had a good left hand. Gardner won ten more fights, and he won five fights by KO in the first round during his career.

Gardner defeated Johnny Williams in 1950 in one of the most grueling fights ever staged in Britain after both men had to spent a night in a hospital. He won the British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator and the fight was christened the "Bloodbath of the Midlands". Gardner then became a contender for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1950, even being rated above Rocky Marciano, the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Gardner challenged Bruce Woodcock in 1950 for the British and Empire Heavyweight Championship, defeating him by TKO after eleven rounds. Afterwards, Gardner defeated Jo Weidin on points after fifteen rounds in 1951 for the European Heavyweight Championship. He then lost his European title to Hein Ten Hoff later that year after fifteen rounds and lost his British and Empire titles to Johnny Williams on points in 1952, retiring from boxing.

However, he made a comeback in 1954 with a series of victories and Gardner knocked out Williams after five rounds in 1955 in a British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator. However, he was finally defeated in 1956 by TKO after two rounds with Joe Bygraves. He then retired from boxing at age twenty - nine.

Gardner had a record of 28 wins, 23 by KO, and 6 losses, 2 by TKO.