Terry Downes and East London hardman Roy Shaw

thing is most good boxers are from the streets and learned to fight long before they learned to box. Seen many so called street fighters in action and most would be battered by a journeyman much smaller than they are, also a lot of good street fighters have boxed.
As for the wrestling amd grapplng ive never seen it used that much and when u are that close u will get bit, eye gouged, balls crushed etc
I have seen a fairly well know ex featherweight now dead knock out guys much much bigger with single punches.

 

I think roy shaw and some of the other hardmen have said they would get battered by any half decent boxer in a real fight

 

In the ring yes,

I seem to recall Ali saying he wouldn't fight Lenny Mcclean in a street fight as he was an aninmal

 

No shaw and the others said also out of the ring the bxer would batter them. A lot of boxers started fighting long before they boxed. And if u ever watched many so called hardmen or streetfighters you would see how very limited slow and clumsy they are

 

Lenny mclean and most of those others were vastly exagerated, they are myths and self reported reputations. Read crime books ( not the complete truth maybe) and many gangsters etc say the rep of mclean, shaw.yates and others was vastly overblown and most were just bullies

 

McLean visited Glasgow to fight the best fighters in the city,(some of who originated from the Highlands) he had a couple of warm up fights v guys that could fight, but not elite guys in the city, and he genuinely got battered both times. For your average punter yes he was very hard, but not v elite fighters. A few posted street fighters are slow and clumsy, guys of the size of McClean and Shaw were bound to be. A good street fighter that is 14-16st will beat your 20st versions 9/10 as they have combination of power and speed, and fitness.

 

What I usually find is that people who have never boxed say that street fighters will beat boxers outside the ring, being honest this is to give them hope I believe in beating the boxer. In some cases this will happen, other times it will be the opposite.

 

Not saying a boxer is unbeatable but the vast majority of the time the boxer is going to won for me

 

Good boxers are generally going to make good street fighters that's obvious. The more you box the harder,faster and more accurate your punches become aswell as getting use to taking shots.

 

9/10 a bloke who is well trained in some form of fighting art that can easily be applied to real life, will batter ur average geazer who pumps iron and thinks hes a bit tasty cos hes decked a few drunk guys in clubs/pubs

 

Your right ive seen boxers who were amateurs batter people far taller and more muscular and these were not world level pros, and old army friend was very good at krav maga and ive seen him destroy muscle bound gym rats who though size was everything he was 5"7 averge build

 

Look at someone like kimbo slice, big hard ******* in the streets and you wouldn't dare mess with him. I don't care if it's in someone's garden or in a ring, kimbo slice smashes to bits any pub bouncer/local hard man/lenny Mcclean type man.

Now I would pick Ali, Wlad, Tyson, to end someone like Slice in a heartbeat pissed or sober. Lenny McLean has fights on youtube, there's one fight where he fights in a football stadium I think and loads of gangsters are there. Lenny must be 20 odd stone fighting a complete fat *******. It takes lenny about 30 clean body and head punches to stop this complete nobody. You think he would stand up to a clean right hand from a heavyweight pro boxer, not a chance in hell!!!

 

Exactly, most people live off a reputation. They punch someone at 4 in the morning and the other guy doesn't dare fight back as he knows the reputation of the guy. I know a few lads that are considered very handy and I can guarantee none of them have had a stand up fist fight last more that 10 seconds.

 

Got to take a lot of these stories with a pinch of salt... e.g. When the Krays went to Scotland they were seen off... When the Krays went to Newcastle they were seen off... William Wallace was 10 foot tall... a lot are stories that have been greatly exaggerated as time goes on.

Frank W arren is Mcleans cousin, don't believe they really got on, but Mclean's fight on the unlicensed circuit was one of the ways Frank got involved in boxing. Even he says a lot of the stories with Mclean that were mentioned in his book were exaggerated.

No doubting Mclean was a hard man but in the ring he was knocked out by Johnny Waldron a former LHW boxer twice both times in the 1st round (remember hearing previously that Waldron also sparked out Julius Francis in the early 90's) and Cliff Fields also sparked him.

Mclean was meant to fight that nutter Paul Sykes in an unlicensed bout but for some reason or other it didn't happen, Sykes fought John L Gardner for the British title and would have mullered him!