Boxing legends and celebs are set to take part in a charity football match as part of the bid to build a statue commemorating a legendary Manchester fighter denied a title due to a 'colour ban.' Former world champions Ricky Hatton, Anthony Crolla and Carl Frampton, are set to line up for a celebrity team.
Love Island winner Kai Fagan, as well as actors from Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Waterloo Road and Andy Burnham are all set to lace up their boots.
The stars, who will play as ‘Len Johnson FC’, will take on a team of FC United legends at their Broadhurst Park ground in Moston to raise money for a statue of him. READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community Len, who was born in 1902 in Clayton to a seaman from Sierra Leone and an Irish mother, went on to become a hugely successful boxer in the 1920s and thirties boasting a record of 92 wins out of 135 fights as he beat the best of his generation.
However, he was unable to compete for a British title due to the government backed ‘colour bar’ which meant British boxers could only compete for titles if they had two white parents.
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