How do you rank Frank Bruno's performance vs Tyson in first fight

He did really well ,especially seeing as though he was absolutely cacking himself. I would say though that that was the first fight where Tyson seemed to be declining, mentally rather than physical. Still looked amazing but he wasnt putting his punches together or moving as well.
Good fight if very dirty.

 

It was not the first fight where Tyson seemed to be declining it was a more difficult fight than Tyson had been used to. What kind of resistance was Tubbs? spinks? Right after the 1st Bruno fight Tyson was still seen as an unbeatable god. With hindsight we can say "oh his life was out of control" but that would be an excuse. At a personal level even at his most successful period with all the order, right training etc Tyson was still a fruit loop on a personal level. Tysons life was never in control. He was a great fighter whos life was always out of control. Credit Bruno for giving a great fighter some resistance.

 

Actually, it was:thumbsup

 

this is true // tyson stopped moving his head with his new trainer called aaron snowell // all he wanted to do was headhunt with telegraphed hail marys one at a time loaded up like a catapult // no more combinations and less body blows // tyson was never elusive d'amato style again

 

I will admit this seems to be an established opinion but IMO it just does not stand up. Tyson had already become more of a "spurt fighter" by the time he won the title - much earlier than the Bruno fight. The fluent head rolling and combinations of the Mitch green fight was possibly the last time Tyson was the fighter people think he was. The head movement as champion was sporadic at best.

The explosive finishes of much of Tyson’s championship work over shadow the fact that under closer examination Tyson was already dumbing down his style somewhat. Because he was winning and still much better than anyone else less people bother to look close enough. So long as the finish was spectacular and the challenger didn’t offer much he looked fantastic.
Tyson took out berbick in just two explosive rounds but in that fight he stood off and collected himself before pouncing with short attacks. The head movement was not constant. The Thomas fight Tyson ran out of ideas after a great 1st round and went into one punch mode for very long spells until finding that wild attack of "hail marys" that finished Thomas off. His head movement was often absent. The Tubbs win was absent of head movement and combinations altogether. The Biggs fight was controlled but punched in mostly two punch combinations, Biggs was a brave sitting duck for 90% of the time and entirely untested. The Spinks fight was very short but Tyson did flow that night but there was zero coming back. Then there was the Tucker and smith clear winning distance fights where Mike failed to shine that were loaded with periods of frustration.

Frank Bruno was one of the few challengers with a real desire to be world champion that Tyson met for the title.

 

I don't even know how to respond to this. Go back to your own world bro, they like you over there!

 

why?:huh

Is it because apart from the moments where he knocked challengers out you think Tyson really always was a consistent, focused, poetry in motion to watch before the Bruno fight?

 

I agree that Tyson was a bit inconsistent in his prime, but there's no consistent decline until at least the Bruno fight.

And, in fact, he looked awesome against Carl Williams, and some say one or two of the Ruddock fights too .... so the decline itself isn't consistent until AFTER 1991.

 

He probably fought to the limit of his capabilities. Bruno on the best day he ever saw could not beat Tyson, or at least not Tyson in good form. He just doesn't have the tools.

But that said, he put up a damn side better effort than the likes of Spinks, Berbick, Tubbs and Williams all of whom were dispatched easily. He was brave and took his punishment as well as he could.
Can't fault him there...

 

Agree whole heartedly.:good

 

He did better than Spinks and Williams

But realistically, could Tubbs and Berbick have done any better than they did?

they all got KOd at the end of the day.

How would Bruno do against the Tyson of the Berbick fight?

Also people forget seem to forget that before the Bruno fight, i think hed just been divorced, was on mood altering drugs, had that car accident plus about 8-9 months layoff since the Spinks fight, that was his longest layoff at the time

 

Tyson was clearly a lot sloppier and out of control against Bruno than the fights you mentioned. It doesnt take a boxing expert to see that and it wasnt anything Bruno was doing, it was just Tyson being undisciplined arrogant and wild.

 

I didn't mean to imply that they didn't try, not at all. It's just that Bruno put up sterner resistance than they did.

 

The carl williams fight was an excelent win ..and without rooney in tysons corner. Carl even had much better recent form than Tubbs, Thomas, Holmes, Spinks, Bruno and Biggs going into their fight so it is a better win than given credit for. When you check out the prep and wins Tysons opponents had going into title fights with him you would have to say only Berbick, smith, Tucker, williams and douglas were the best prepared. Tyson was impresive in only 2 of those 5 fights.

 

Exactly the same as he did when he met Tyson.

Remember Tyson started razor sharp against Bruno and put him down early. If Frank did not hang on, Tyson gets the early win and looks fab. Tyson at world level lost concentration the longer fights went and his greatness was only ever often seen in flashes or spurts seen in the Bruno fight and many others before it. Tyson got the job done early and looked great against spinks, williams and berbick but if they all hung on like frank maybe Tyson would have looked just as sloppy as he did against Bruno and thomas.