By Leicester Mercury | Posted: 28 September, 2015
Reporter Peter Warzynski stepped in the ring as part of the fund-raiser and watched as the former champ steamrollered his way through his opponents.
Mountainous men, confident mothers, nervous aunties, over-zealous youngsters and a disillusioned few who thought they stood a chance against the former champ – they all lined up to get in the ring with Rendall Munroe.
The former British, European and Commonwealth champion opened his North Evington gym to the public on Saturday and invited the city – men, women and children – to go along and spar to raise money for charity.
His aim was to grind out 30 two-minute rounds with anyone who walked in off the street - providing they gave a £5 donation for LOROS's 30th anniversary fund-raising drive.
"You could tell some of them had boxed before," said the 35-year-old.
"One lad came down doing the [Floyd] Mayweather thing – dropping hands and rolling his shoulder.
"I told him it wouldn't work, and he said it wasn't working because he was wearing a head guard.
"So I said, 'take off the head guard and I'll show you why it doesn't work'.
"There was blood everywhere.
"By the end, he was sitting in the corner with two cotton buds sticking out of this nose."
Rendall chuckled as he told the story.
Although some opponents had delusions of grandeur, most people who entered the ring took it easy - including me.
And thankfully, Rendall returned the favour.
The 'boxing bin man' started his charity drive at about midday. There were no invitations, just an open door and a queue.
A steady stream of people, as if on a conveyor belt, wandered in, put on their wraps and gloves - after signing a disclaimer - and then climbed under the ropes and got punched in the face for two minutes.
I did the first round with Rendall, preferring to get my go out of the way so I could concentrate on enjoying the rest of the day.
During the bout, I thought I did okay – but watching the footage back I could see Rendall was barely out of first gear.
Occasionally he stepped it up and drove one home – mostly into my nose.
With my round finally over I stayed to witness the fortunes of other nervous opponents, such as Wendy Helps, 44, from Thurnby Lodge.
"I just thought it would be something nice for LOROS," she panted, after finishing her two minutes. "We've lost someone to cancer so raising money for them seems like the right thing to do.
"I'm absolutely exhausted though – and it was only two minutes.
"He's a professional boxer and he punched me right in the face, but I don't mind. That's why I came here."
As Wendy stepped out, her niece Katie, 27, stepped in.
And so it continued.
Every two minutes the buzzer would go off, indicating the end of another (mostly) gentle beating.
A minute later it would echo around the gym once more, cueing Rendall to begin again. It went on like this for an hour-and-a-half.
"I had loads of people coming in towards the end," said Rendall. "A lot of new faces just walking in off the street and lining up to get in the ring.
"One lad was huge though – he looked like one of the Klitschkos.
"Good thing I'm small, because he couldn't catch me, I tell you."
They say the last thing to age on a boxer is his heart – his unwavering resolution to fight on.
It is a cheesy quote from one of the Rocky films. I'm not sure which one, but it's true.
It is what drives 'the comeback'.
For Rendall, his heart brought him out of a short-lived 18-month retirement to fight Lee Selby in February 2014.
He lost, and retired again afterwards, but his determination now serves him in other ways - and he focuses a lot of energy on raising money for various Leicestershire charities.
Saturday's event raised more than £200 for LOROS hospice, which has cared for more than 30,000 terminally ill patients since opening in 1985.
This year, the charity is really going for it and has launched its 30 for 30 campaign.
It is asking people to do 30 things to raise cash – such as read 30 books, or swim 30 lengths of a pool.
But nothing says dedicated fund-raiser more than getting hit in the face by a former professional boxer – who, I might add, is now an aspiring championship bodybuilder.
Marketing and communications officer at LOROS, Yasmin Duffin said: "This is a fantastic example of how people can use what they are passionate about to raise money for LOROS and Rendall especially is always one to get involved with helping local charities."
So what's next for the fighter from Leicester?
A world record, perhaps.
Speaking to Rendall the day after his fund-raiser, I mentioned that the Guinness World Record attempt should be his next move - the most consecutive rounds in one go.
What's the most it could be? 100? 200?
The Guinness World Record website says the target at 276, which was set in 1825, when a boxer named Jack Jones beat another man, Patsy Tunney, in fight in Cheshire.
However, the fight lasted four-and-a-half hours, which means each round was only one minute long.
Some quick maths shows that if the rounds were two minutes long – like Rendall's – that would only equate to 138.
I say, 'only'...
"I loved it though," said Rendall. "I'm going to do it again.
"I did two minute rounds, with a one minute break straight through. But I could have done it again, no worries."
He said he would definitely consider the record attempt, proving his heart is still clearly more influential than his head.
When I checked Rendall's Wikipedia page before writing this I assumed it hadn't been updated for a while.
The last line of the online biography reads: "... he is still aiming to be World Champion."
But watching him at the weekend, and seeing his heart and his tenacity, it's probably still true.
