'H', the MC at a lot of them fights in the 70's and 80's used to do the DJing and Karaoke around Charlton and Greenwich. Not sure if he's still about or not?
I've just read Bartley Gorman's autobiography (ghosted of course). Very interesting but also very disturbing - a life full of pure violence. He never fought McLean or Roy Shaw but reckoned he would have beaten them both!
After the Golovkin/Brook fight last year we all stayed at the hotel next to the O2 and in the bar late into the night was Jamie McLean, Lenny's son. Me and my youngest got talking to him and he didn't want to stop - must have been an hour conversation talking about his dad - fascinating.
also watched the doc, his son came across as a bit of a wolly, but v interesting watch, he died of lung cancer, which probably had more to do with smoking than bare knuckle fighting.
You all may wish to google a man by the name of "Johnny Waldron". Really nice bloke with hands like bunches of bananas. Drinks in the Woodman. Put Lenny down twice, but you never get to hear about that.
You all may wish to google a man by the name of "Johnny Waldron". Really nice bloke with hands like bunches of bananas. Drinks in the Woodman. Put Lenny down twice, but you never get to hear about that.
Yeah...remember the Yorkshire Grey fights...not that I went to any of them....there was also a fella called Billy Gardener (lived near Cliftons Roundabout) who was in that crowd and may well have had a few 'tear up's' with The Starbucks....I went out with his daughter for a while.
A lad that used to be a mate of mine had a Dad and Uncle that were a pair of brutes. That was until according to my Dad they met with Starbuck in Eltham one night.
Lenny lived down Avenue Road Bexleyheath towards the end of his life, about 5 houses up from the William Camden. The windows still have security bars over them down the side of the house.
Lenny lived down Avenue Road Bexleyheath towards the end of his life, about 5 houses up from the William Camden. The windows still have security bars over them down the side of the house.
You all may wish to google a man by the name of "Johnny Waldron". Really nice bloke with hands like bunches of bananas. Drinks in the Woodman. Put Lenny down twice, but you never get to hear about that.
Bet you'd put him on his arse with a fire door
That one unfortunate incident is going to stain my impeccable behaviour for the rest of my life isn't it :-)
Stolen from a web site. Pretty much covers his fighting career.
When Frank Warren formed the National Boxing Council in the 1970s, it allowed the toughest underground fighters in Britain to compete legally. McLean, unable to become a licensed boxer due to his violent reputation and criminal record, entered the world of unlicensed boxing (which, though legal, was not sanctioned by the British Boxing Board of Control), and he quickly became one of its brightest stars. His most famous bout was against George 'Pappy' Langley. The notorious Essex fighter had earned a name for himself by knocking out almost all of his opponents to date. The fight lasted one round with George Langley being victorious via KO.
McLean, who in his prime was six feet two inches (188 cm) tall and weighed over twenty stone (127 kg), boasted that he could beat anybody, in either a legitimate match or in an unlicensed match with or without gloves, and reputedly sent out challenges to many of the famous boxers of the day, including Muhammad Ali and Mr. T, though neither contest materialised. He was challenged by the king of the gypsies Bartley Gorman to see who was the hardest unlicensed fighter in the United Kingdom but he refused, leading many to believe Bartley to be the better fighter. McLean had a brutal trilogy of unlicensed matches with arch-rival Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw, a former patient of Broadmoor Hospital. McLean lost to Shaw once via verbal submission, which McLean justified by claiming his gloves had been tampered with, thus reducing their maneuverability. McLean beat Shaw in a rematch with a dramatic first-round knockout in which Shaw was knocked out of the ring. In their final bout, McLean ended the feud with a brutal first-round knockout at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, London in September 1978.
However, McLean was not invincible nor a professional athlete and large portions of his career cannot be verified. He was allegedly twice knocked out by Johnny "Big Bad" Waldron during the early days of his boxing career, both times in the first round. He was also knocked out in the first round by George Langley, twice stopped in matches against Cliff Field, and beaten on points by Kevin Paddock (none of which are mentioned in McLean's autobiography), although McLean always maintained that he had never lost a fight "on the cobbles" or outside the ring. Despite these defeats, McLean claims to have competed in almost four thousand fights over three decades, and winning a very large majority of these fights. This led many to accept McLean as the unofficial Heavyweight Champion of the World in unlicensed boxing.
You all may wish to google a man by the name of "Johnny Waldron". Really nice bloke with hands like bunches of bananas. Drinks in the Woodman. Put Lenny down twice, but you never get to hear about that.
Bet you'd put him on his arse with a fire door
That one unfortunate incident is going to stain my impeccable behaviour for the rest of my life isn't it :-)
About the only thing I remember from them hazy weekends in Blackpool mate
Lenny lived down Avenue Road Bexleyheath towards the end of his life, about 5 houses up from the William Camden. The windows still have security bars over them down the side of the house.
Comments
Good doc , defo had a screw loose though , anyone that crossed him must have also had a death wish.
So quite believable, to me anyway.
After the Golovkin/Brook fight last year we all stayed at the hotel next to the O2 and in the bar late into the night was Jamie McLean, Lenny's son. Me and my youngest got talking to him and he didn't want to stop - must have been an hour conversation talking about his dad - fascinating.
Really nice bloke with hands like bunches of bananas.
Drinks in the Woodman.
Put Lenny down twice, but you never get to hear about that.
And no I didn't !!
Pretty much covers his fighting career.
When Frank Warren formed the National Boxing Council in the 1970s, it allowed the toughest underground fighters in Britain to compete legally. McLean, unable to become a licensed boxer due to his violent reputation and criminal record, entered the world of unlicensed boxing (which, though legal, was not sanctioned by the British Boxing Board of Control), and he quickly became one of its brightest stars. His most famous bout was against George 'Pappy' Langley. The notorious Essex fighter had earned a name for himself by knocking out almost all of his opponents to date. The fight lasted one round with George Langley being victorious via KO.
McLean, who in his prime was six feet two inches (188 cm) tall and weighed over twenty stone (127 kg), boasted that he could beat anybody, in either a legitimate match or in an unlicensed match with or without gloves, and reputedly sent out challenges to many of the famous boxers of the day, including Muhammad Ali and Mr. T, though neither contest materialised. He was challenged by the king of the gypsies Bartley Gorman to see who was the hardest unlicensed fighter in the United Kingdom but he refused, leading many to believe Bartley to be the better fighter.
McLean had a brutal trilogy of unlicensed matches with arch-rival Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw, a former patient of Broadmoor Hospital. McLean lost to Shaw once via verbal submission, which McLean justified by claiming his gloves had been tampered with, thus reducing their maneuverability. McLean beat Shaw in a rematch with a dramatic first-round knockout in which Shaw was knocked out of the ring. In their final bout, McLean ended the feud with a brutal first-round knockout at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, London in September 1978.
However, McLean was not invincible nor a professional athlete and large portions of his career cannot be verified. He was allegedly twice knocked out by Johnny "Big Bad" Waldron during the early days of his boxing career, both times in the first round. He was also knocked out in the first round by George Langley, twice stopped in matches against Cliff Field, and beaten on points by Kevin Paddock (none of which are mentioned in McLean's autobiography), although McLean always maintained that he had never lost a fight "on the cobbles" or outside the ring.
Despite these defeats, McLean claims to have competed in almost four thousand fights over three decades, and winning a very large majority of these fights. This led many to accept McLean as the unofficial Heavyweight Champion of the World in unlicensed boxing.
; )