THE East End of London has just claim to being considered the beating heart of British boxing. This redoubtable and proud working-class part of the world has been immersed in all kinds of folklore throughout its history, involving gangsters, footballers, performers — and also fighters.

The notorious and overly romanticised Kray twins both had short careers as professional fighters in the early 1950s. From Bethnal Green, they began their respective boxing journeys at the Mile End Arena — an open-air arena located in its day just behind Mile End Tube station. Regarded as a “bear pit” at the time, from there they worked their way up to fighting at the iconic Royal Albert Hall.

Of the two, Reggie established the more impressive record, winning all seven of his professional fights. Ronnie won four and lost two of his six outings before both moved were called up for national service in 1952. The rest where both are concerned is of course history.

When fighting the Krays trained at the Repton Boxing Club. Established all the way back in 1884, Repton has been home to every kind of character ever to come out of the East End.

The roll call of amateur and professional champions who learned their craft here is too long to list, but among the most notable are John H Stracey, former welterweight world champion, and Maurice Hope, who enjoys a place in British boxing history as the first immigrant to the UK to win a world title. This he did in 1979 at light-middleweight (super-welterweight).

Hope had moved to the East End with his family when just nine years old. Racism and bullying drove him into the arms of the Repton boxing family, where he found not only sanctuary but also a sense of pride. His amateur career culminated in him representing Britain at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The Peacock Gym, located in Canning Town, likewise enjoys a respected place within the East End boxing firmament. Established in 1978, this is an establishment which boasts Frank Bruno and Lennox Lewis among its luminaries. Current top world level operator Anthony Yarde has made Peacock his base. In its time its facilities have also been used by Emmanuel Steward, Freddie Roach and Angelo Dundee, among others.

London’s East End in its time has been home to some of the most ferocious bareknuckle and unlicensed fighters to ever do it. The most famous of those in the contemporary era is inarguably Lenny McLean.

Referred to variously as “The Guvnor” and “King of the Cobbles,” McLean was fearsome specimen of a man. A hulking and menacing 6’3” and 20-stone presence, his was a childhood defined by the regular vicious beatings he endured at the hands of a violent alcoholic stepfather. From the experience, McLean concluded that violence was a creed to live by.

This is borne out by his legacy of same, both in and out of the ring. His son Jamie later observed that “My dad wasn’t a born fighter. He was uneducated and a product of his upbringing, traumatised by what he’d been through, and probably had mental health problems as a result of all that. Fighting was all he knew.”

McLean earned his trade as a bouncer in some of London’s most famed nightspots in the 1980s, among them Camden Palace and The Hippodrome. He also worked as an enforcer for various London gangsters, including the aforementioned Kray twins.

Boxing hall of fame promoter Frank Warren began his own career in the sport as promoter by stepping in to help his second cousin, McLean, secure unlicensed fights in the late 1970s. Warren has been on record describing Lenny McLean as a “terrific bully.”

The York Hall is a boxing venue in the East End of London where fame has been won along with its antithesis, ignominy. Built in 1929, the much overused descriptor “iconic” is more than merited in this case. The UK’s spiritual home of boxing, York Hall began hosting fights in the late 1940s. From then to now this is a venue steeped in British boxing history. This to the point where it would be far easier to list the top British fighters who haven’t graced a ring here, than those who have.

Fighting and the East End of London enjoy a history defined by adversity in its various forms. Reaching back further in time, we come across a character by the name of Daniel Mendoza.

Born in Whitechapel into a family of Spanish and Portuguese Jews in 1764, Mendoza is credited with applying the first scientific principles to pugilism. Anti-semitism was rife in the East End at the time, which made fighting for a young man such as he a non-negotiable fact of life. He began fighting for money at just age 18 and from there rose to fighting in front of King George IV, who gifted him the enormous sum of £500 for his efforts in 1787.

Daniel Mendoza, “The Fighting Jew,” passed from the earth at age 72 in 1836. His was an era in which boxing was a sport engaged in by the poor man and loved by the rich man. The thirst for human blood by the latter was supplied by the former in a dynamic that arguably continues to this day.

All in all, the East End of London has over centuries been synonymous with boxing in its various forms. Feral young working-class men — and also increasingly women — have here found within boxing gyms and clubs the meaning and purpose denied them otherwise.

Such a wondrous working-class history and legacy is worthy of respect and exaltation in equal part.