Melbourne gym boss Paul ‘The General’ Fyfield cleared of charges laid by organised crime task force

Key kickboxing figure and gym boss Paul “The General” Fyfield has had the charges laid against him by an organised crime task force dropped.

Kickboxing trainer, Paul ‘The General’ Fyfield

Melbourne gym boss and prominent kickboxing figure Paul “The General” Fyfield has been cleared of charges laid by an organised crime task force.

Allegations of perjury against Mr Fyfield, who is also a schoolteacher, have this week been dropped, leaving him free of charges for the first time in four years.

The prosecution related to accusations he made false claims about a fake drivers’ licence and passport in a hearing of the teaching watchdog in 2012.

Mr Fyfield was due to face a County Court jury on Thursday but prosecutors applied to discontinue the proceedings.

It is the second big court win for the former kickboxing champ in the past 10 months.

In February, the 60-year-old was acquitted over charges he stole $1.1 million from an Armaguard van at Sunshine Plaza shopping centre in 2006.

He was charged over that matter in February, 2016.

It had been alleged he stole the money after a cash van employee intentionally left a door open while stopping to replenish a teller machine.

The Sunshine investigation was part of a broader probe by Tidelands task force detectives, who were also investigating a number of major crimes, including the infamous Richmond road gang holdup of 1994.

A gang of bandits posed as a road construction team to stop an Armaguard truck and steal $4 million at gunpoint near the Monash Freeway.

Mr Fyfield is a firm friend of ex-kickboxing champ Percy “No Mercy” Lanciana, who is charged over the Richmond heist.

Fyfield (left) was a pallbearer at murdered friend Willy Thompson’s funeral 2003

Tidelands was assembled almost a decade ago to investigate a series of big armed robberies and three gangland killings.

Mr Fyfield, who runs the FightFit gym in South Melbourne, is one of the Melbourne kickboxing scene’s best-known and most respected identities.

After an accomplished fight career, he went on to coach some of the sport’s biggest name’s, including Stan “The Man” Longinidis and Tosca Petridis.

The FightFit website says he has trained his charges to eight world titles and 15 Australian crowns.

Mr Fyfield also had a brief stint mentoring former AFL tough-guy Barry Hall in his ill-fated return to the boxing ring.

He was a firm friend of kickboxer Willy Thompson, who was murdered at the height of Melbourne’s gangland wars, a hit police believe was ordered by crime boss Carl Williams.

Mr Fyfield was a pallbearer at Thompson’s 2003 funeral.