prime Frank Bruno v Andy Ruiz who would have won?

If Bruno fought Ruiz in a "routine" non-title 10 at home at the Wembley Arena or the Royal Albert Hall where most of Bruno's fights took place back in the day, in his comfort zone, Bruno's chances in this fight increase. In a championship fight, over 12 rounds with all the associated pressures, they decrease imo.

I'm not sure that Bruno's temperament in the bigger fights served him well - usually (McCall fight aside), Bruno seemed to use up so much nervous energy that, allied to his extremely muscular physique, he seemed to be very "tight", hence his tendency to gas.

Tactically, in this fight, an awful lot depends on the effectiveness of Bruno's jab. If Bruno's jab could keep Ruiz "honest" and keep him at arm's length by dominating with the jab, discourage Ruiz from trying to get too close, then Bruno might be able to follow up his jab with heavy rights, left hooks, box at his own pace (this was always crucial with Frank) and maybe bust Ruiz up or force a stoppage in around 6-7 rounds.

If not, I suspect that Ruiz would tuck up, slip Bruno's jab regularly enough, counter with stinging shots, sap Bruno's stamina and force a late round stoppage or pull away down the stretch for a decision win.

My gut feeling, on the available evidence is that the latter scenario is the most likely.

By the way, I always feel it's difficult to predict a fantasy fight between a buy that has retired against a guy whose still active; we know the strengths & weaknesses of the retired fighter - the current pro in these fantasy fights may well have flaws that have yet to be exposed.

(By the way part 2 - AJ's chances in a rematch depend largely if he can produce a much more dominant jab than in their first fight, imo).

 

The best assessment yet, if I may say so!

 

This is a very good post.

The point that Bruno was better when the pressure was off is valid. Bruno felt the weight of an entire nation in those big outdoor events. It effected him. Even though Joshua drew more fans, I don’t think it is possible a boxer could be quite so nationally mainstream as Bruno was in the 1980s. He was as big as the Beatles in those days!

 

Its fair to say that Bruno did take on soft touches between his shots at the championship, but I don't equate that to him being crap overall. It was clear he was being protected for the massive UK events his title challenges were. but you saw the truth when he got in there with a champ, which was he always offered a stiff challenge, apart from the Tyson rematch where he appeared to fall apart.

OK he lost but there is evidence in those fights to suggest Bruno would pose a few problems for today's fighters, its worth remembering he was losing to greats like Tyson and Lewis later, in their prime, wonder how AJ would have done? He was kicking the crap out of Lewis until he ran out of steam, same with Witherspoon and Bonecrusher, when younger. He had a moment against Tyson but it was clear he had a style problem there, Tyson was just too fast, Frank couldn't keep up and his battery went flat.

I think the speed of Ruiz might be a problem, as it was with Tyson, the fast combinations would probably catch up with him but I'd guess Frank would do pretty well early with his jab and right hand to keep Ruiz off. But because of Ruiz's chin and durability he would likely outlast Bruno and take him out late. I still rate Bruno though, on form he was a solid fighter, he could beat a few top level fighters in today's division imo, possibly knock AJ out.

 

so that means Parker is better than Lewis was when he beat Ruddock, Mason, Tucker And Bruno??? It must do because Parker is the equal of Ruiz isn’t he? Parker is not a great fighter. It was a close fight Ruiz had with him.

yes he did walk down AJ like mayweather walked down a UFC guy having his first boxing fight. Bruno is not having his first fight as a boxer. This is a man who gave great fighters a scare. We should credit Ruiz for beating AJ, and afford him the significance that AJ was getting, but we can’t yet know if Ruiz is really a great enough fighter yet to give fighters like Lewis and Tyson a scare do we?

it would be Bruno’s worst nightmare if he could not control Ruiz with the jab. Bruno controlled McCall with the jab didn’t he? McCall knocked out a prime Lennox Lewis, Oleg Maskaev, Bruce Seldon, he beat Şamil Sam, Fres Oquendo, Henry Akinwande he knew how to put the pressure on.

for ten rounds Bruno toughed it with Witherspoon in a war. And Witherspoon was a much harder puncher than Ruiz because there is loads more evidence (that I have shown you) of Tim one timing decent fighters.

 

people write off Lewis pre Steward which I don't agree with personally, he was a beast athletically, his offense was lethal, he was more aggressive with it and his killer instinct kicked in a lot more when he had someone hurt. I'm not saying he was better, Steward made him smarter, more measured with his use of size etc, but pre steward Lewis wasn't this useless lump.

To say he was nowhere near Ruiz Level when he was a champ himself at the time, taking on top contenders that easily rival today's, is all wrong imo. Anyway, I said myself that Bruno would have trouble with Ruiz's style if you read my post, my point was Bruno wasn't as bad as a lot of people seem to think, he would do well in today's era I think. Most of the guys that beat him in the 80s, 90s, are far more skillful than the crop around these days.

My opinion of today's heavyweight division is that it is pretty weak, and overrated, leading many to believe these guys can just walk over many of the last generation of heavyweights. The reality is they have all looked vulnerable themselves, multiple times.

 

But What if 41 year old Klitschko who had not won a fight in two whole years wasn’t as good as 37 year old Joe Bugner who had just fought 30 rounds over the last 12 months against recent title challengers?

 

I think it is possible Wlad could still have been better than Bugner but It’s just as possible that Wlad taking two years out after a points loss and challenging a new champion mirrors Larry Holmes taking on Tyson, making AJs win over a Wlad just as hollow.

Wlad was even older than Larry Holmes against Tyson.

 

I don’t know. At 37 and coming off impressive wins over 29 year old Tillis two wins after some people think he beat Tyson, recent WBA champ 28 year old Greg Page and 29 year old David Bey one year after challenging Larry Holmes Joe Bugner might represent one of Wlads toughest ever fights.

When did he ever beat anybody coming off those kinds of wins within 12 months? At 41, idle for two years, Wlad can’t have been near his best.

 

The thing is with Klitschko, I think that fight did his legacy more good than Joshua's, he did a great job as an old former champ. At the end of the day he had no business being in there against a young Prime AJ, he was allowed into the fight despite all the disadvantages he faced at 41.

This should have been like Tyson v Holmes, AJ should have demolished him, he showed he had the power to but his glaring weakness were being exposed instead. Wlad looked decent for a while but it was clear he was an old man pretending to be young, he had that last solid performance but he wasn't near his best was he. His record leading to that fight was frankly terrible, lacklustre showing his age against Jennings then the woeful no punch output performance against Fury.

At that point in his career I think its arguable to say old Wlad wasn't on par with the Mccall Bruno faced, who had knocked out a physically prime Lennox Lewis and out pointed Holmes, he was on a decent winning streak, and was a dangerous puncher. That was a good win by Bruno.

AJ has obviously had more success, but this isn't exactly a golden age is it, Bruno had guys like, Holyfield, Bowe, Tyson, Lewis and a fair amount of decent contenders out there. Not an easy time to become champ...