Dick Turpin portrait print will be sold at Leamington boxing night auction

The portrait of Dick, by Paul Oz, was unveiled and placed at Warwick Courthouse in October and number 1 of only 25 prints of the artwork has been signed by the artist and framed by Richard Heath of Regency Studios.

The print will be sold in an auction at Clearys Boxing Gym’s next show at the Assembly on Saturday March 14 with the money going to Mr Oz to help cover the cost of his original work.

Adrian Bush, chairman of Clearys and the man who both commissioned the painting and raised funds to help pay for it, said: “Whether it is a cricket club, football club, boxing club or a pub it will look in place there because Dick was a local sporting hero.”

Dick, who at the age of 27 became Commonwealth and British Champion in 1948, was the first black fighter to win a British boxing title and his success paved the way for other non-white fighters to be successful in the sport.

His younger brother Randolph, of whom a statue was unveiled by the late Sir Henry Cooper in Market Place, Warwick, in 2001, went on to become World Champion when he beat Sugar Ray Robinson at Earls Court in the summer of 1951.

The portrait unveiling included former boxing champions Franco Wanyama, Bunny Johnson, Neil Simpson and ex-judo world champion Neil Adams among the guests while boxing writer Colin Hart provided a heartfelt tribute to Dick.