Did Evander Holyfield duck Frank Bruno??

Have I quantum leaped into some alternate reality where Tyson lost to Bruno?

That's the only way this thread would make sense. It never made sense, for both, for this fight to come off.

 

Which year specifically? Frank made a comeback in 91 fighting a shot Ribalta who jumped on the floor after being hit in two rounds, Holy fought Foreman that year in a bigger fight than a fight with Frank would have been, George took punishment that Frank coudn`t on that night, next he fought Bowe and lost after defeating Holmes who had beaten Mercer.

 

Exactly George. After Bruno lost to Tyson in ‘89 he didn’t even fight again until ‘91. And then after a few wins got a shot at Lewis in a Huge UK showdown, and he lost again. Came back strung a few wins together, got the shot at Belt Holder McCall, won it then lost to Tyson and Retired. The time lines just don’t line up really.

 

Tyson was the nr 1 contender after Holy won the crown. He took on the supposedly easy pay-day that was Foreman first but was scheduled to face Tyson later in 1991. Tyson suffered an injury so he faced Cooper instead (as second alternate I believe), and then Tyson was sentenced to prison. Holmes the sailed up as unlikely top contender and efter him Bowe was the nr 1. So Bruno doesn't really fit in this picture.

Then after the winning the title back he lost it against Moorer in his first defence. I don't know where Moorer was ranked. Goin in to 1994, Moorer was the third ranked contender byt The Ring (nr 4 with Holy as nr 1) and Bruno wasn't ranked.

When Holy won back a portion of the title in 1996, Bruno had already retired hadn't he?

 

Oh yeah, Holyfield fought two guys that knocked out Bruno and were very hard punchers themselves (Tyson and Lewis), but was scared of Bruno? Yes, that makes sense

 

I think it would be an ugly match up for Holyfield, he wins though.

And as mentioned, Evander would not have ducked the challenge if it was a realistic proposition.

 

No Bruno took 2 years out of the sport. But Bruno stands a stylistic chance against Holyfield because of his jab and size. I know Tyson made easy work of Bruno but this is a bit of a paper scissor stone match up.

 

Well, I haven't had much to say about Evander Holyfield in recent months, but here goes:
Evander Holyfield, to my reckoning, has, in his storied past displayed only the highest level of skill, heart, courage under fire and endowed with the ultimate warrior's heart, determination, adaptability and fearlessness...and so, the question paraphrased is, "did he duck Frank Bruno?" ...Britain's beloved black Henry Cooper...the answer is not only "no", but "hell no".

 

Yeah Damiani was the first replacement opponent after he also fell out we got Bert Cooper, thank god, what a great fight. I’m pretty sure Holmes got that shot because he was a well known former champion who had just beaten one of the young top contenders at the time Ray Mercer.

 

My recollection is that Holmes/Mercer was an eliminator, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

I honestly can't see it.

I doubt that he was ever under any real pressure to do so for a start.

Bruno's career, has been subject to some frankly bizarre revisionism, in recent years.

For those who didn't live through it, this is how it was.

He feasted on tomato cans, lost whenever he stepped up, then went back to feasting on tomato cans again, until he could get another title shot.

The only time when Holyfield would even have got out of bed to fight him, was when he held the WBC title, and he had bigger fish to fry even then!

 

Yup, if not an elimination Mercer was being seriously consider and then Larry turned back the clock. So it was to easy let’s just go ahead and fight Larry now he’s a big name. Mercer had a habit of blowing title shots. He had one lined up against Bowe too and lost to Ferguson.

 

The title of the thread is very amusing in itself.
Impossible to keep a straight face here.

 

Technically yes, but it was not promoted as such. It was a warm up for the streaking Mercer to prepare for the June date with Holyfield. I knew of no one who was picking Holmes, and promoters knew that, hence the lack of an elimination label.