Legendary fighter 'Iron Man' knocked out 'Britain's hardest man' twice
'Britain's hardest man' - who claims to have won 3,000 fights over three decades - lost twice against the same man.
Notorious bareknuckle boxer Lenny McLean garnered a reputation for beating up a whole lot of people.
He was involved with some of the country's toughest gangsters in the 70s and 80s.
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Later on in life, Lenny started out as a nightclub enforcer and was then befriended by notorious gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray.
After falling into a life of crime, he served 18 months in prison for beating up his boss on a construction site.
When he got out of jail, Lenny got into bare-knuckle fighting and unlicensed boxing matches.
He began competing in fights at Frank Warren’s National Boxing Council in 1970.
Coming in at 6' 3" and weighing over 20 stone, he was a force to be reckoned with.
At the time, Lenny was considered the 'unofficial heavyweight champion of Great Britain'.
However, we must remember that even the GOAT Muhammad Ali was beatable, and most people will hit the canvas at some point in their career.
Lenny's Kryptonite was 6ft 7in Cliff Fields.
The renowned amateur boxer was famous for his nickname 'Cliffy Field' and 'Iron Man'.
After losing his license, Fields became a bare-knuckle boxing champion during the 1970s and 1980s.
Fields did not only beat 'Britain's hardest man' twice, but knocked him out in the first round both times.
Clubland legend Manny Clark, who claims to have once sparred with Lenny, told the Daily Star that his dad George was witness to the two epic fights.
“My dad said that Cliff first beat Lenny and the crowd were calling it a lucky punch, so the second fight Cliff stood and let Lenny punch him in the face for 4 rounds,” Clark said.
“Cliff’s face had doubled its size and was covered in blood, and then Cliff threw about six punches and knocked Lenny out.”
Lenny eventually moved away from the fight game and got into into acting, while working as a bodyguard to the cast of EastEnders.
He then starred in Guy Ritchie’s 1998 crime thriller Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, cementing his status as a legendary figure.
It was during the filming of Lock, Stock when Lenny fell ill with what was later diagnosed as lung cancer.
Sadly, he died shortly afterwards on 28 July 1998, a month before the film’s release.
Anish Vij