{"id":740429,"date":"2026-02-03T22:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/740429\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T22:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:17:15","slug":"tyson-furys-staffordshire-relative-who-once-got-in-the-ring-with-muhammad-ali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/740429\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyson Fury’s Staffordshire relative who once got in the ring with Muhammad Ali"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘King of the Gypsies’ Bartley Gorman was ‘most dangerous unarmed man on planet’<\/p>\n

16:08, 03 Feb 2026Updated 16:11, 03 Feb 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bartley Gorman with Muhammad Ali<\/p>\n

Traveller Tyson Fury is well know across the globe as a two-time world heavyweight champion. But what many might not realise is that he owes his fighting pedigree to a Staffordshire ancestor.<\/p>\n

And he’s still got a long way to go to match the fighting exploits of his relative, ‘King of the Gypsies’ Bartley Gorman. Tyson, who reached the heights of the sport with victories over Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder, is of the same family bloodline that produced Bartley.<\/p>\n

And the 6ft 9in man giant has huge shoes to fill. That[s because Bartley, from Uttoxeter,<\/a> is generally regarded as the greatest modern bare-knuckle boxer.<\/p>\n

The battle-scarred warrior, who died of liver cancer in 2002 at the age of 57, fought at horse fairs, campsites and once even down a mineshaft. By his own analysis, he was \u201cthe most dangerous unarmed man on the planet\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never fight a normal man,\u201d said the scrapper, unbeaten in 25 years of brutal warfare, \u201cbecause I am liable to kill him with one punch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fifth in a line of Bartley Gormans, he began fighting at the age of 10 and claimed the King of the Gypsies crown in 1972, following the death of previous holder Uriah Burton.<\/p>\n

He was so dangerous, in fact, that seven years ago, the Sunday Mercury revealed that Bartley was STILL a menace from beyond the grave.<\/p>\n

\"Tyson<\/p>\n

Tyson Fury is related to Bartley Gorman(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Jerry Gorman revealed his late uncle had placed a curse on thieves who stole his caravan, BirminghamLive reports.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe thieves are cursed,\u201d he said. \u201cThat caravan will only bring them bad luck. Surely they can\u2019t realise who they have stolen from and what this means to the traveller community? If they did, they would have realised it was the worst mistake of their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the thieves are going to do with it. They can\u2019t go around boasting they\u2019ve got Bartley Gorman\u2019s caravan and trying to sell it because the police will be on to them. The only option they have is to return it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartley\u2019s blood-and-bruises story is a gripping tale of a world light years from the controlled, regulated violence that has made Tyson a fortune.<\/p>\n

But Tyson is acutely aware of Bartley\u2019s legacy, and can be seen on YouTube paying tribute to the undisputed bare knuckle boss. Bartley\u2019s life is crammed with larger-than-life tales that have become embedded in gypsy folklore.<\/p>\n

In the shadowy world of illegal fighting, sifting the fact from the fiction can prove problematic. He certainly couldn\u2019t match 18-stone Tyson’s vital statistics.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bartley Gorman was furious when his caravan was stolen<\/p>\n

Bartley stood 6ft 1in tall and weighed 15 stone, but regularly sparked out much bigger men.<\/p>\n

It is also alleged that the Gypsy King secretly sparred with Muhammad Ali when The Greatest visited Birmingham in 1983. He was certainly a massive Ali fan and modelled his style on the heavyweight legend.<\/p>\n

Bartley was born in Nottingham in 1944, the son of a Welsh father and Irish mother. Quite simply, he was born to fight, explaining in an interview: \u201cBartley Gorman III was the champion of North and South Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cBartley Gorman IV wasn\u2019t a fighter, he was a great lover. Then there\u2019s Bartley Gorman V. That\u2019s me, champion of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He moved to Uttoxeter when he was 20 where there is a plaque commemorating his achievements.<\/p>\n

His was a violent world from the off. During a 1953 Boxing Day gathering at a bar in Exhall, Stratford-on-Avon, the young Bartley witnessed his uncle\u2019s death. He was killed by a single blow from a showman enraged after his drink was spilled.<\/p>\n

Although his grandfather and great-grandfather were gypsy boxing champs, his dad, Samuel, was deeply religious and shunned fighting.<\/p>\n

Samuel initially brought the Gorman clan from Wales to Bedworth to be schooled. They lived in a Warner\u2019s Yard travellers plot and Bartley attended St Francis of Assisi Primary. At the school, the youngster learned how to read and fight.<\/p>\n

The fighting started with playground tussles, then after-school scraps, followed by proper training at Bedworth Labour Club. There was also a string of schoolboy amateur fights, including some for his secondary school, Nicholas Chamberlaine.<\/p>\n

But the secretive world of gloveless scraps beckoned.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bartley Gorman planned to hold a barbequed hedgehog event<\/p>\n

In his autobiography, King of the Gypsies, Bartley chronicled his toughest contests. He came within a whisker of defeat when suffering a dislocated shoulder during a 1980 challenge at a Coventry pub, believed to be the old Port O\u2019Call.<\/p>\n

Bartley was enjoying a pint when Mexicana Webb, a giant with a wiry, unkempt head of hair that looked like a busted sofa, threw down the gauntlet. The crowd cleared the tables to give the two men fighting room, and warned the landlord not to ring the police.<\/p>\n

Bartley won only because Mexicana failed to realise his opponent\u2019s shoulder had \u201cpopped out\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also engaged in contests at the Aston Firs travellers site, Hinckley, at his brother Sam\u2019s 1991 wake, and at the Coventry Crock Fair three years later. Bizarrely, one of his last contests took place on a ship in the north Atlantic.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

King of the Gypsies Bartley Gorman<\/p>\n

In 1997, mellowed if not softened by age, Bartley announced his retirement, declaring: \u201cI\u2019m too intelligent to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

He became a public mouthpiece for the gypsy community. His many projects included setting up a rehabilitation camp for travellers who wanted to be true Romanies.<\/p>\n

He also famously invited then Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Prince of Wales to a hedgehog barbecue. But the dinner invitations were torn up after animal rights campaigners savaged the scheme.<\/p>\n

Peter Walsh, who helped Bartley compile his book during the last 18 months of his life, said: \u201cHe was a unique man, a one-off. He was a lovely man with a wicked sense of humour but a streak of melancholy that never left him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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