Buddy Turman

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Buddy Turman in his early twenties

Reagan Garth "Buddy" Turman (born April 12, 1933) is an American retired professional heavyweight boxer. He was born in Noonday, Texas.

After two years as an amateur, Turman fought his first professional match at the age of 21 against Bobby Babcock, which he won. Five months later he won the first "mixed" bout (between a white and African-American man) in Texas against African-American JD "Sporty" Harvey.

In November 1955, with 11 wins and one loss, Turman fought Roy "Cut-n-Shoot" Harris for the Texas Heavyweight Championship. Turman lost the fight in a controversial decision, which allowed Harris to move on to fight Floyd Patterson for the World Heavyweight Title. This decision severely hampered Turman's chances of winning the World Title.

Two years later, with 25 wins and only 3 losses, Turman faced Oscar Pharo for a second time. In the third fight of his professional career, Turman had been beaten by a more experienced Pharo on points. In the rematch, Turman won on a KO within 59 seconds of the first round.

In May 1959, at Madison Square Garden, Turman soundly defeated Bob Cleroux, who a year later would win the Canadian Heavyweight Title. The next year, Turman faced World Light-Heavyweight Champion and World Heavyweight Contender, Archie Moore. Moore won by decision. However, Cassius Clay afterwards expressed to Turman his dismay at the judges' decision. Moore publicly acknowledged that Turman should be considered one of the top five heavyweights in the world. Turman subsequently spent time at Moore's training camp in San Diego, where Clay was also training.

Turman began fighting abroad in 1961, first in the Philippines (where he was again defeated by Moore), and then in Italy, South Africa, Germany, and England. He spent most of the later 1960s in Europe. He won his last match, which he fought against Rudolf Nehring on December 15, 1967, in Munich, Germany.

Turman fought a total of 62 professional matches and won 45 of them including 32 KOs. He had friendships with several of the most successful boxers of his time, including Henry Cooper, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Billy Conn, and Rocky Marciano.