To me, Bruno seemed a more effective fighter in the 80's, he was more mobile and there was more variety to his punches, although that it isn't saying much.
Possibly around the time he fought Lewis Yes he lost but was winning and just fell apart under sustained pressure His real weakness arose again
I was more impressed by his performances against Smith and Witherspoon. When he made his comeback after the first Tyson fight, I remember Bruno saying that he wanted to be meaner in the ring - which basically meant committing more fouls. But he never had the speed to carry it off. Either the referee noticed and warned him or, in the case of Lewis, he held Lewis' head down whilst hitting him with some very gentle and very slow uppercuts which left him wide open to the left hook that effectively ended the fight.
Truth is that Bruno, whilst beloved by legions of British fans, was always a very one dimensional fighter. I watched his fight against McCall last night. People think that Joshua gasses easy...
I think his level was pretty consistent across a decade; some things got better over time but same got worse. The 90s version was larger and a more physically imposing unit, along with being dirtier. The 80s version was more mobile and able to mix his punches up more. Case in point, the two weaker titlists he faced (Bonecrusher and McCall) had similar attributes. Big punch, excellent chin, tendency to switch off and get outworked. The fights followed the same pattern except the finish, where McCall nearly landed the bomb but Smith did. The results were pretty much the same. Too much for journeymen and fringe contenders, not enough for the elite. If you asked people to name Bruno’s best win, some would say McCall and some Coetzee, which were a decade apart.
Exactly the same weakness that Tony Dosh PPV has when hit with even a mediocre punch - drained of all energy immediately with paralysis from the waist up. Tony Dosh's condition is even worse than Bruno in that his chin appears to be non teak glass and he suffers from a broken heart. A brutal knockout awaits the Poster Boy for current Matchroom Heavyweight Pudding Mediocrity.
You're on crack, Jurgen. Too much Liverpool victory has gone to your head and made you delusional. Bruno's condition was way worse than Joshua's. Look at his fight with McCall. He was gassed out after five rounds against an opponent who wasn't really doing anything. Bruno's chin was so weak that Mike Tyson actually retired him. And, unlike Joshua, Bruno only threw one hard punch at a time and could not fight going backwards. The two aren't comparable.
You will see in the future mate when Tony Dosh PPV gets absolutely flattened unless he retires after another 3-4 pay per puddings. Going to be a Sprott v Fraudley type brutal piece of Matchroom PPV Timber falling heavily to the canvas.
In fairness, Coetzee had retired but accepted a massive payday to fight Frank. One look at him told you he had barely bothered to train for it.
Bruno added a dimension late on his career. George Francis taught him to cling on for dear life when stunned. That turned the McCall fight into a win, rather than another Bonecrusher. So perhaps that was his best performance. But as mentioned from Coetzee to Coetzer; Tillis to Williams, his wins were all pretty solid and compare favourable with most of his peers of the time. A personal favourite is Bugner; Joe was in good nick and a live underdog, who tried mind games. And for the first time in his pro career, Bruno was not intimidated and dominated a fight without letting the pressure get to him, thus stamina was not an issue.
This is actually quite a difficult question to answer. Because Frank so seldom successfully negotiated a genuine test, it was hard to identify any tangible improvements in him. Sure, after Witherspoon he used to roll his shoulders a bit although his head still didn't really move and after the first Tyson fight he grabbed and fouled more. I would say his peak was the McCall fight. The younger Bruno simply could not have survived those last 2 rounds but he put what George Francis had taught him to use and hung on, all be it rather frantically.
It's a difficult one to gauge. Gerrie looked terrible, was well above his peak weight and barely landed a punch. On the other hand, less than 18 months prior he had held a version of the title, and he'd beaten Tillis in his previous fight. On paper it's a really good win. It probably is less so when you view the footage.
I watched a few 90s Bruno fights recently, and was struck by how much of a dirty bugger he was. Constant rabbit punching, holding and hitting, and mauling up close. Both Tyson fights exposed that he had little inside game, and he managed to get away with it over here by holding and fouling. Both Steele and Lane didn't let him get away with any of that though.
