FIGHTING FOR SUCCESS

Ron Kray had been hit time and time again and his face was showing the signs of the night's work. His cheeks were bruised and grazed and his left eye was completely closed, but he had finally beaten his man to the floor in a sudden flurry of pure aggression; winning was the name of the game for Ron and he didn't care how he did it. His brothers hadn't fared much better, but it was without doubt Charlie who had come off worst of all. He was in complete agony, doubled up in pain from the severe beating he had taken. It wasn't a good night for the Krays and it marked a fatal turning point in all their careers.

They vigorously washed the blood from their aching hands as they vowed never to be beaten like that again. Ron and Reg talked about the future and how they would get even; Charlie could only talk of getting out — he had had enough! The purple blur of half-shut eyes, the mangled hands and the bloodied features would soon be a thing of the past for all three Kray brothers. Never would they let this happen again, never would they allow themselves to fight on someone else's terms.

The day was the 11th December 1951 and the brothers had all been fighting on the same bill at The Royal Albert Hall, the only time this feat has ever been achieved. The boxing days were over for the Krays. Next time they would fight by their own rules — street rules.

Charlie had been a fighter most of his life, both in the ring and on the street. In London's East End in the 1950s, fighting was a way of life — and death. It was about survival of the fittest. Street gangs and street people all settled their scores in the same way: with their fists. Fight first, ask questions afterwards. Careless talk cost lives.

The Kray boys had pedigree. Cannonball Lee was a champion bare-knuckle fighter. He was also their grandfather, Jimmy Lee. Lee had fought in the days when boxing didn't have many rules. Just the street. It was every man for himself. He'd entertained the boys for years with tales of prize fights and fighters; the same stories over and over again. They never tired of them. Fighting was in their blood.

When Charlie decided to pick up the gloves, he met with strong resistance from his mother Violet. As Cannonball's daughter, she had lived through years of watching her father come home hurt after bouts of fighting. She had spent her childhood helping her mother to pick up the pieces of him, only to wait for him to dust himself down and start all over again. but she didn't want to watch her own boys do that.

Their father, though, took a different point of view. If they wanted to fight, then that was OK with him. After all, he couldn't do much about it, even if he'd wanted to. But he knew of the advantages that boxing had brought. He had fought as a youngster and was plea