Roy Shaw: Difference between revisions
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* [http://www.myspace.com/royprettyboyshaw Roy Shaw Myspace Profile] |
* [http://www.myspace.com/royprettyboyshaw Roy Shaw Myspace Profile] |
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He has a nephew named Adam Purdy |
He has a nephew named Adam Purdy. He is only 18 but is notorious for being a hardman all over London. He is best known for putting a member of the Nu Bar doormen in a wheelchair. He is now in borstal for selling E's in the Warehouse. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 13:13, 11 July 2009
Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw (born 11 March 1936 in Stepney, London), also known as Roy "Mean Machine" Shaw, is a former criminal, prisoner, and was both a professional boxer and unlicensed fighter during the 1970s and 1980s.
Early life
Shaw was born in Stepney, London, to a working class family and from an early age was involved in unlawful behaviour.
Prison sentences
Shaw was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for a record breaking armed robbery in 1963, one of England’s biggest armored truck robberies. Shaw "pummelled" his way out of his cell at Her Majesty’s Prison at Maidstone, assaulting a number of "screws" (prison guards), the first individual to do such a thing in Britain.
Shaw, who claimed he "simply hates the system", and that the "system could never beat him", has been in 22 prisons in his lifetime, including the infamous Broadmoor Hospital for Criminally Insane. There Shaw underwent experimental electroconvulsive therapy, where his doctor claimed Shaw was "the most powerful and dangerous man I have ever tried to treat."
Shaw routinely stabbed informers ("grasses," he calls them) and even slashed his so-called best friend’s throat while incarcerated.
Bareknuckle boxing career
Shaw started bare knuckle boxing aged 42 with many infamous victories, including one over Donnie "The Bull" Adams. Roy beat former world Heavy weight contender Ron Stander who had previously fought Joe Frazier.
His fights with arch-rival Lenny "The Guvnor" McLean were described by critics as among the bloodiest of the century. Today, Shaw claims that he had respect for McLean as a boxer, but otherwise none whatsoever in a personal sense.
At one point, Shaw was imprisoned for a series of petty crimes, but escaped and for a short time before being recaptured, continued his boxing career under the alias "Roy West".
Roy states on his website that the two unlicensed boxers he most admires are Cliff Fields, who also beat Lenny McLean, and Johnny Waldron who twice knocked out McLean, both times in the first round.
Roy Shaw's unlicensed fight record is - 11 Fights, 9 Wins, 8 K.O.s, 2 Losses, 0 Draws.
In other media
Shaw was something of a minor celebrity in the press in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in which frequent articles were written on him, due to a pique of interest in British gangsters in the general public. Shaw even appeared on political debate show Question Time in 1980.
Shaw was the subject of a 2006 documentary DVD, released in the US by Entertainment Programs, Inc., entitled Roy Shaw: Brute Force. It was directed by Liam Galvin, and contained original footage of Shaw's unlicenced boxing matches, and also interviews.
Current life
Shaw, now aged 72, has retired from both a life of crime and bareknuckle boxing. He currently now lives in Waltham Abbey, Essex, and keeps two Rottweilers as pets.
External links
He has a nephew named Adam Purdy. He is only 18 but is notorious for being a hardman all over London. He is best known for putting a member of the Nu Bar doormen in a wheelchair. He is now in borstal for selling E's in the Warehouse.