‘Most powerful man in prison’ knocked out ‘King of the Gypsies’ in 30-second ‘fight to the death’
The person dubbed as the ‘most powerful man in prison’ once knocked out the ‘King of the Gypsies’ in a quick ‘fight to the death’.
Roy Shaw was a brutal gangster who grew up with the infamous Kray twins - Ronald and Reginald - back in the 1960s.
He spent 18 years behind bars after his involvement in one of the country's largest armoured truck robberies in 1963.
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The fighter smashed up a number of prison guards during his time in jail and even escaped two different cells while he was in HM Prison Maidstone.
After serving his time, Roy became a bareknuckle boxer who struck fear into his opponents.
While his reputation seemingly became more prominent, he found himself face to face with Donnie Adams, the self proclaimed 'King of the Gypsies'.
Roy's Son Gary recalled the brutal bout as an easy win for his father who he claims toppled Adams in the first round.
The man once dubbed 'the most powerful man in prison' was then nicknamed 'The Guv'nor'.
"It started off when he [Roy] got out [of prison]," Gary told Shaun Attwood's True Crime Podcast in 2020.
"Donnie Adams was the King of the Gypsies.
"A fight was put together. It was put down as a 'fight to the death'.
"The fight was called off because it was going to be bare knuckles, so they re-advertised it with gloves, but when it gets past the first round the old boys would lock arms and the gloves would come off."
Once the gloves came off there was only going to be one winner, according to the son.
"He hit him two or three times, he went over," Gary claimed.
"He was that frustrated he kept picking him up, hitting him again.
"It was quite an experience."
In a 2019 interview, Gary revealed that it 'wasn’t an advantage' having Roy for a father'.
“People used to pick on me because of who my dad was. We always had problems with the police.”
Gary also ended in prison when he was younger - but he thanks his father for putting him on the straight and narrow.
"I’m not proud of it – I got into lots of trouble and ended up in prison,” he added.
“He put me straight. He was saying if you want to go into a life of crime, it’s a mugs game. So I made the choice.”
Topics: Crime
Anish Vij