Its important to note that he died in 1998, at a time when the internet was still in its infancy. During his lifetime Lenny became a cult-like figure and received invitations to get involved in acting. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. McLean, the bully beef fighter, was not quite done with his course. We did live in fear of him, but I didnt understand he had this condition. He has not been in the best of health lately but I'm sure that warrior spirit will bring him through. Born in Hoxton, right in the middle of the east-end, Lenny had a good upbringing until his father died when he was young. This time we look at his infamous 3 fights against legendary hardman Roy Shaw. stories about famous people. At this point of the Round 1 demolition job on Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw, a man who had entered the ring some fifty seconds earlier as the odds-on favorite to win, the Referee stepped in. Never again. This is only natural and not everyone is invincible. In 1992, McLean was working as the head doorman at the Hippodrome in London's Leicester Square, when he ejected a man named Gary Humphries, who suffered from serious mental health problems and was reportedly on drugs, streaking through the nightclub, urinating on the floor and harassing women. [17] In 2001, Gerrard authored another book about McLean, titled The Guv'nor: A Celebration. He was known as "The Guv'nor", "the King of the Cobbles" and "the hardest man in Britain". The guvnor Lenny Mclean, Bare-knuckle boxer, and Doorman from Down South. Case in point, his savage beating of Donnie "the Bull" Adams in 1975. One such encounter was his 1986 bout with Mad Gypsy Bradshaw. The teacher eventually gives up, realizing that his students are even ignorant about the existence of Nazis. . After starting bare-knuckle fighting, Lenny realised he could make a living out of it. Lenny McLean Meets Bare Knuckle Fighting At 26, McClean entered the world of bare knuckle fighting. Even crazier, had he participated in 4000 fights, this would have meant hed have fought once every 2-3 days on a weekly basis for 30 years. However, back in the day bare knuckle boxing was more of an underground sport that was dominated by gypsies and local hardmen. His largest and most famous role was in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), playing the part of criminal enforcer 'Barry the Baptist'. I shall tell you something, I would never have fought Cliff, mainly because he was just too big but he didn't move like a heavyweight but he certainly punched like one. Lenny 'Boy' McLean certainly looked the part of an indestructible fighting machine. McLean's first unlicensed boxing match came about as a result of a chance meeting while in his late teens: when his car broke down in the Blackwall Tunnel he abandoned it and went to buy a replacement from an associate known as Kenny Mac, a gypsy used-car salesman in Kingsland Road, Hackney, only to find the replacement quickly failed too. Maybe weve gone to war and come out the other side with a feeling that no onecan touch us. Under the wing of Spinks, McLean was exposed even more fully to the darker sides of Londons underworld. The 20-stone tough nut had thousands of unlicensed boxing fights in his life and befriended the fearsome Kray twins. lets have a look#lennymclean#royshaw#boxingIf you would like to buy me a coffee it really would mean the world .https://www.patreon.com/propaboxingThankyou so much .Buy yourself some PROPA MERCHANDISE You'll love it - quality hoodies / t-shirts / mugs / presents for the wife: propa-2.creator-spring.comFollow me on Insta for some nutty posts: https://www.instagram.com/this_is_propa/All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. He gravitated towards acting after being introduced to an acting agent by his show-business friends Mike Reid and Freddie Starr, for whom he had "minded". When exposed as a crook on the run, the British Board of Boxing Control failed to renew Shaw's license, and banned him from performing in any of their contests thereafter. Jamie McClean recounts a story in The Guvnor where Lenny, hammered after a day at the pub, fought a man named Jimmy Briggs over a dispute with a girl. 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Humphries died later that night and was found to have a broken jaw and severe neck injuries. This is where I remember first seeing McLean, in the role of Barry the Baptistin Guy Ritchies 1998 film Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, a comically dark, twisted tale of East Londons underground. After doing a few BT commercials, he landed the role as Eddie Davies in ITVs Customs drama The Knock. LennyMcLean was raised in the East End of London in the years following World War II. Forty-one year old Shaw, the smaller of this gruesome twosome, was supposed to be the better boxer. On that night,McLean systematically destroyed his opponent, punching him so hard in the second roundhe knocked him out of the ring, disqualifying Shaw. I dont think he enjoyed life. [18], McLean's widow, Valerie, co-authored Married To The Guv'nor with Gerrard in 2003, and produced a foreword to the 2007 book about McLean by Anthony Thomas titled The Guv'nor Through The Eyes Of Others. He also held joint ownership of a public house in the East End of London named the "Guv'Nors" along with Charlie Kray, elder brother of the Kray twins, reputed to be the "most legitimate" of the three brothers. As you can imagine, this was a man surrounded by violence and boxing. Thankfully, there is footage of McLean around and you can tell that he has good fundamental boxing skills. That made Shaw a perfect target in the eyes of the fearless McLean, and it was only a matter of time before the 28-year-old would battle Shaw. According to McLean's autobiography, his name was useful for the smooth progress of various criminal dealings, and to warn off members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Mafia. Eventually, he fell into a life of crime when rubbing shoulders with Londons criminal underworld. weighing 19.1/2 stone, knocked out MacLean by the end of the fifth round. It was his series of fights with The Mean Machine Roy Shaw that became legendary. Already a hardened fighter, he had been expelled from school after an unsettled childhood and joined the Staffordshire Regiment, only to be discharged for . Thousand. The kind that leave you scarred internally and externally. While most of us immediately think of the Guy Ritchie film "Snatch," where Brad Pitt as the Pikey flourishes as a calculating, bare-knuckle boxing champion, McClean lived it. However, when Lenny's infant brother Raymond was beaten brutally with a belt, McLean's great-uncle Jimmy Spinks, a local gangster, attacked Irwin, nearly killing him, and threatened to cut his throat should he ever need to return to protect the children. In fact, McLean is so liberal with the nut that he makes Evander Holyfield look like a choirboy. In the 1970s, working class English hard men settled their disputes in the boxing ring with gloves or on the cobblestones with their bare fists. The nightspot was sold out and packed to the rafters with gilt-edged hoods and wideboy punters. Lenny McLean was one of the deadliest bareknuckle Over the years, there have been many who claim to be the best bare knuckle boxer. As Lock, Stock was slated to rise to the top of the box office, Lenny McLeans book shot to the top of the bestsellers list. In fact, most likely enhanced it. He was certainly a massive Ali fan and. There are few sporting niceties in an "unaffiliated" boxing match. After one fight, he was meant to put his opponent into a coma due to landing such heavy shots. Unable to parry or counter, Shaw collapsed under the rain of knuckle sandwiches and rabbit punches. It was during the filming of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels that Lenny fell ill in what was later diagnosed as lung cancer. He was subsequently diagnosed with pleurisy, although a further X-ray examination proved he was suffering from lung cancer which had metastasised to his brain. He would have the occasional bare-knuckle fight but after that Lenny Mclean would put his name to other things, such as Pub minding, debt collecting (even teaming up with Dave Courtney on a few jobs), minder to the stars, etc. The Guv'nor, a documentary about McLean's life, as seen through the eyes of his son Jamie, was released in 2016. McLean had 2,000 fights and developed an opponent which saw him lose. Lenny became a nightclub enforcer and was feared around the city. He was known as "The Guv'nor", "the King of the Cobbles " and "the hardest man in Britain". McLean's autobiography, titled The Guv'nor, written with Peter Gerrard, was published in August 1998, shortly after McLean's death. The battle-scarred fighter sadly passed away in 2002, but in his prime he was unstoppable, fighting at camp sites, horse fairs and once even down a mineshaft. Born in Hoxton, right in the middle of the east-end, Lenny had a good upbringing until his father died when he was young. I can quite believe he has but it will be about flower arranging or fashion ignorance or nom de plumes or imaginary culinary achievements. This was another first round stoppage. McClean did not drink after that incident, but his work in the pubs was far from over. Whatever he was known as he was truly The Guvnor. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Lenny eventually fell into acting after being asked to mind the cast of EastEnders. Amazingly, the contest was allowed to go on. "He was a terrible bully, Lenny. Combined with organized BKB fights, its plausible that he could have achieved thousands of fights. Naturally, he quickly became friends with the East End underworld element, acting as an enforcer in several circles. However, finding a publisher proved to be tougher than any fight in the previous 30 years. He expressed the rage resulting from his abusive childhood with such abandon that often it would take several men to separate him from his defeated opponent, gaining the nickname "Ten Men Len" because of how many men would be needed to restrain him. Throughout his life, Lenny has been shot twice, once in the arse, stabbed in the leg, broken nose four times and broken hands fifteen times. Lenny excelled in it and at one stage was said to weigh 20 stone and went on to win more than 3,000 fights. Remember, this post is purely an opinion and everyone is different. Leonard John McLean (9 April 1949 - 28 July 1998) was an English unlicensed boxer, bouncer, bodyguard, businessman and actor. He blamed his second defeat on ginseng, saying that he has accidentally ingested too much of the stuff and went into the contest out of sorts. Lenny would then have to endure years of abuse from his step-father Jim. the guv McLean also lost via KO to George "Pappy" Langley and on points to Kevin Paddock. When you look at this objectively, it seems very unlikely that this was possible. Scots presenter Andrea McLean 'bedridden' and has been 'poorly . This was not just a fight for the fans, this was a personal feud. Losing his first fight to Shaw due to an obviouslack of conditioning, McLean quickly arranged a rematch. Lauded by many as the Toughest Man in Britain, Lenny McLean, without question, was as hard as nails. Lenny Mclean wouldn't come into it because he was knocked spark out by Cliff twice! Required fields are marked *. To put this into perspective, there are just under 11000 days in 30 years. [6], McLean admired his great-uncle thereafter and when he became a street fighter he said that he considered every victory to be won on behalf of his vulnerable younger self. He also made industry connections by "minding" the casts of television shows such as EastEnders and The Bill. 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