Have any of you heard of Lenny Mclean? I thought bare knuckle boxing died with John L Sullivan. But I guess there was an underground version all the way up till the present time. Ive recently read the "Guv'nor" by Lenny McLean. "Pretty boy" The life story of Roy Shaw. "Tarmac Warrior" the life and times of Billy Cribb. "King of the Gypsies" Bartley Gorman, and "On the Cobbles" by Jimmy Stockins.
These men have all battled in Bare knuckle boxing. These are all great books. I had to get them of Amazon's UK site but worth every penny. Great reading. Most of the boxing takes place in England, but Cribb came to the states and boxed for awhile. Lenny came in the early 80's and KO'ed John McCormick in New york. Why have I never heard of these guys before? Does anyone know where I can get videos of some of the fighting? THanks
try www.royprettyboyshaw.com, or doing a google search for the following:
Roy Shaw
Jamie O'Keefe
Unlicensed 2000
One of those should give you a website with some useful info on. There are vids available for free on the net, they are poor quality, but interesting. After reading the books you may be surprised by the quality of boxing on display. It's err, shit. I wouldn't have said that to hi face though.
Mcclain was in the movie " Lock, stock and 2 smokin barrels" He died soon after. Someone devoted a whole web site to him. I emailed the guy about information on mcclain. He sent me stuff for months about him being the toughest streetfighter ever. None of this can be proven. He came to NY to fight NY's toughest street fighter Jim McCormick, well I never heard of Jim Mccor and I've lived here 40 years. I saw a tape of him fighting the King of the Gypsys. He couldn't box at all just big looping haymakers. His Highness was even worse. A middleweight Golden glover beat beat both of these Hvy's. Most stories of people being great streetfighters are exagerated.
Was their technique bad? Did it look like Lenny had good power? All the stories of laying people out as a bouncer made me think that Lenny Mclean had Tank Abbot power. Tank dosent look like a polished boxer but when he hits someone he wrecks them.
The book is a fun read. Lenny was a huge guy so I am sure that he had legitimate ko power. I dont think he ever trained too seriously in his early days. The guy he fought in New York was picked by the mob or something.
He had to be tough. They dont just write a book about anybody. But he probably wasnt very polished. Reading his book it seems he never trained any untill Roy Shaw beat him in their first fight. I think Roy beat him because he psyched him out in their first fight. Lenny said Roy came into the ring pushing spectators out of the way, throwing chairs, screaming like a banshee. Reading both their books was interesting. They both had a rough go of it.
i brought tarmac warrior. pretty good book. did u believe the stuff about fighting in the pits with weapons? or fighting in quick sand and shit like that? lol
Da Speciman:
Anythings possible in the Kumite :)
When Cribb said he did drugs I believe it. Maybe to many :)
None of the other books have anything that outrageous in them. Speaking of
The Guv'nor
Pretty Boy
On the Cobbles
I believe their accounts. Except that Shaw and McLean seem to be unclear on how many times they fought. McLean says 3, Shaw says 2. Getting hit with barefists probably takes a toll on the memory.
they would throw nut shots, bite knees to the nads. there used to be a big fan on here back in the day and he actually posted vids. it wasn't like boxing or kickboxing but pure rage in the ring. pretty cool.
"they would throw nut shots, bite knees to the nads. there used to be a big fan on here back in the day and he actually posted vids. it wasn't like boxing or kickboxing but pure rage in the ring. pretty cool."
I wish somebody would post a video. I found some of the tapes on EBAY. But their all PAL.
most videos from recent years should play pal and ntsc videos. they certainly do in the UK